Film - My Oxford Year

Quotes from "My Oxford Year"

Before reading any further I strongly suggest

viewing the film on Netflix so that the material

below can be real, probing, and fresh. And then,

after viewing the film, should this page be read.

- re slater

Poetry Observations

"Poetry should be a lived, felt, and life-changing experience,

rather than just a subject of study." - Anna

"To truly experience a poem, you need to feel it."

"A poem is alive, it has a voice."

"Poetry should be lived... Let it in; allow it to change your life."

"Reading poetry is a conversation of feeling between two people.

It shouldn't answer anything, it should only create more questions,

like any good conversation."

---

Film Quotes & Observations

"It turns out, the act of making a choice, of choosing a path, doesn't mean the other path disappears. It just means that it will forever run parallel to the one you're on. It means you have to live with knowing what you gave up."

"I came to Oxford looking for a Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience. [At some point,] I chose to experience a lifetime."

:This is a quiet encouragement to say “yes” more frequently to life events. To take the risk of failing or falling. To live without the nagging what-ifs of inaction.

"Just because something is fleeting doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful."

:Some moments are not meant to last - but that does not make them any less real.

"You never know the choice you make is right or wrong ‘til you make it. What matters is they are yours to make."

"This is the messiness of life, and as an annoyingly brilliant man once told me, these are the best bits."

:The chaos, the curveballs, the heartbreaks - they are never meaningless detours. They are the story of lives mending, molding, becoming.

"You’re not obligated to be the same person you were a year ago, a month ago, or even a day ago. You’re allowed to grow. You’re allowed to change."

“Sometimes the hardest thing isn’t letting go but learning to start over."

:Letting go is an ending. Starting over is a beginning. And beginnings can be terrifyingly scary and brave at the same time.

"We don’t get to choose our circumstances, but we do get to choose how we respond to them."

"Love doesn’t always come in convenient, easy packages. Sometimes, it’s messy and painful and complicated."

"You can’t stop the future from coming, but you can choose what you do with the time you have."

"Love doesn’t have to last a lifetime to be real."

:Some loves are short stories, not novels. But they are no less true. No less affecting. No less moving.

"You should never regret the things you do. You should only regret the things that you don't do."

"I have no expectation of forgiveness, nor do I, arguably, deserve it, but I do know that I acted without malice and my idiocy was nothing more than that. Sheer idiocy." - Jamie

"A well-lived life might come at a price, but bugger me if it's not worth every penny."

"Life is unpredictable. It's okay for things to not go as planned;  ... and growth can happen inside of the messy-middle."

"Taking risks. Taking chances. Stepping outside of your comfort zone. Each can lead to memorable and rewarding experiences."

"Living in the moment: Finding joy in the small, everyday moments is important, even without a clear plan."

"Accepting what is.... Some things are not meant to be forever, and it's important to accept the present moment and find happiness in love and connection where you can."

[ SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ]

My Oxford Year | Anna and Jamie Love Montage

featuring Coldplay | Netflix

My Oxford Year | Official Trailer

Netflix

Anna and Jamie

“’Tis better to have loved and lost

than never to have loved at all.”
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "In Memoriam A.H.H."

“I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair.”

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Maud"

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses"

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Live the life you have imagined.”

 - Henry David Thoreau, "Walden"

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

- Henry David Thoreau, "Journal" (1851)

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.”

- Henry David Thoreau,  "Journal" (1839)

"Forever is composed of now's."

- Emily Dickinson

In the end, Anna's Oxford year was more than a needs-fulfillment chapter of her life abroad before settling down into an esteemed lifetime career, but a personal re-awakening. A reminder that love, even when fleeting, reshapes us more deeply than mere safety and security ever could. She learned that loss is not the opposite of love but its proof, and that a life is measured less by the plans we make than by the moments we dare to embrace. To have loved and lost is still to have lived bravely. To choose one’s own path, even through grief, is to step confidently toward a life once un-imagined. And though nothing lasts in the way we might wish, everything matters in the way it changes us - leaving us wiser, softer, and ready to begin again across the sorrow and grief that holds us. - re slater