This week just gone was the first week back of my MA, after a two-week break for Christmas. Back to the studies and classes and talk of the next essay. It seems a it early to be talking of the next essay – it’s not due until the end of February – but the last class before Christmas, which took place less than a week after the last essay was handed in, also talked of the next essay.

Ah, the life of an MA student!

But all this talk of essays (compounded by an interesting discussion on the writing of essays on Radio 3’s Free Thinking the other night) has reminded me of what the tutors all keep saying: You should begin by Interrogating the Question.

Pick out the important words and go back to the beginning: to the OED and the actual definitions, not just what you think they mean.

So, in the spirit of essaying Properly, I thought I’d do that with Joy.

Obviously, we all know what joy means: the happiness and other such positive feelings which it brings, but does the OED?

And, yes, yes it does. So all good there, then.

Interestingly, the noun joy and the verb joy, though both are related to the positive feelings of being pleased or glad, are derived from different French words: the noun from joie (joy, jewel) and the verb from joir (to rejoice, enjoy, welcome, etc). The noun, therefore, also has an obsolete meaning of being a jewel.

So, now that we’ve established that we do indeed know what joy means, this week, what has brought Joy?

The sunshine, for a start: it’s always easier to be optimistic and hopeful in the sunshine, however useful the rain might be. And rainy walks are far more pleasurable in the countryside, with proper muddy puddles to jump in. Towns are just grimy in the rain. But it’s been sunny this week, if cold, and I’ve been able to hang the washing outside to dry and take Tiny for a daily walk, all bundled up in bobble hats and mittens and scarves. It’s the little things.

And then, after that brisk, chilly walk in the sunshine, it’s the cheese on toast for lunch. Is there anything better than a warming plate of gooey molten cheddar (‘So as not to seem greedy, she said “Never mind about the toast!”’)? Which tells you that I’m not bothering with Veganuary, nor am I ever likely to. I’ve attempted a plant-based diet before: it doesn’t work for me. I just hope I never develop a lactose-intolerance.

Perhaps joy is too strong a word for all the things which have brought happiness and positive feelings, but the return to studying, and getting stuck in to Paradise Lost and cross-referencing some of the thoughts I’ve had about it, has at least brought me pleasure. As, indeed, did looking up the word joy in the OED. Long may that continue as I wrestle with convoluted poetical sentences and theological ideas.

I don’t feel like I’m having to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find the joy this week, which brings a joy all of its own.