King's College Chapel

While visiting King's College Chapel, students were encouraged to focus on looking up, looking down, and looking at people. The purpose of this exercise was to engage with a wide range of detail, from the chatter of tourists to the fan-vaulted ceiling, from the stained-glass windows to the ground beneath our feet.

Chapel Poem

The stained glass windows are perfectly stained

I stare at all its vivid glory

The dragon is grinning but the greyhound is pained, 

I need to know the rest of this story

They weave in and out and around

The pews, fluid and fast as water

They pace back and forth without making a sound

There is an old woman who took her granddaughter

Who stumbled over the chairs

BANG! CLATTER! CRASH! And

Broke the peaceful silence of the chapel

The walls are adorned with the fleur de lis

The coat of arms, the dragon, the greyhound

The grandeur of the hallowed stone overwhelmed me

The beauty was startling, my impressions were profound

I ran my fingers down the hallowed stone,

Smooth and cold, a beige tinged with gold

The ceiling was high, the statues were tall

My eyes averted, gazing at the wall

Someone etched graffiti on it

And broke the peaceful silence of the chapel.

Row and row

Row after row

Row and row

Row after row

Of dark green hymn books

Lined up neatly, side by side

A meandering stream of green 

Climbed up the pews

And stopped climbing

There was an empty space, 

An empty altar

An empty table, set for a feast

Yet there is no food

I’m hungry.

The stained glass windows are perfectly stained

I stare at all it’s vivid glory

The dragon is grinning but the greyhound is pained, 

I need to know the rest of this story

They weave in and out and around

The pews, fluid and fast as water

They pace back and forth without making a sound

They are old, smiling, ripe with experience

Weaving in and out and around

We burst in, machine guns in hand

Breaking the eerily peaceful silence of the chapel.

- Constance (Major course)

Above, the dragon and greyhound that Constance is describing.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulodykes