dreamer

tired ravenclaw + ambitious slytherin.

[littlestpersimmon]

queen of the diwata

[littlestpersimmon]

the apsara’s daughter

[ghiblifilm]

★Studio Ghibli + Dark Academia Aesthetic★

[galina]

My favourite of Rodin’s works were the hand fragments. There were so many, some broken off and discarded from larger works like the Gates of Hell, others as studies for poses and casts. Hands are my favourite of all the body’s shapes, with their endless, endless holding 

[simena]

BARTOLOMEO VENETO (detail)

[everythingstarstuff]

Monokubo Illustrations

[elithien]

Patronus commission for Gabrielle. Thank you!

[avendell]

Sirius Black

[silverystardustt]

dark academia days off

practicing the flute; working on difficult classical pieces

studying chess plays

finishing your Regency Era book

lighting too many candles

waltzing around in your room to thrifted records

daydreaming of another life

procrastinating homework because you´d rather study anything else

long, drawn out baths 

reciting poetry in the darkness 

studying characters soliloquy´s and planning out your own

listening to chopin and tchaikovsky and deciding which one you prefer

rewatching dead poets and mona lisa smile for the billionth time

getting drunk off of wine by yourself and waking up to your drunken scribbled notes in the margins of your favorite book

comparing different film versions of emma and of pride and prejudice

compiling a new playlist for you to study and read to

worshipping the moon and stars

watching films in foreign languages and calling it studying

[aradeia]

“In the episode that Wilson calls “one of the most horrible and haunting of the whole poem,” Odysseus returns home to find that his palace has been overrun by suitors for his wife’s hand. Though she has resisted them, the women in her palace have not. Odysseus, after slaying the suitors, tells his son, Telemachus, to kill the women. It is an interesting injunction from Odysseus, who himself, during his 10 years of wandering, was serially unfaithful. In Robert Fagles’s much-praised translation of the poem, Telemachus says, before he executes the palace women on his father’s command: “No clean death for the likes of them, by god!/Not from me — they showered abuse on my head, my mother’s too!/You sluts — the suitors’ whores!” But Wilson, in her introduction, reminds us that these palace women — “maidservants” has often been put forward as a “correct” translation of the Greek δμωαι, dmoai, which Wilson calls “an entirely misleading and also not at all literal translation,” the root of the Greek meaning “to overpower, to tame, to subdue” — weren’t free. Rather, they were slaves, and if women, only barely. Young female slaves in a palace would have had little agency to resist the demands of powerful men. Where Fagles wrote “whores” and “the likes of them” — and Lattimore “the creatures” — the original Greek, Wilson explained, is just a feminine definite article meaning “female ones.” To call them “whores” and “creatures” reflects, for Wilson, “a misogynistic agenda”: their translators’ interpretation of how these females would be defined.”

—

Wyatt Mason on Professor Emily Wilson in The First Woman to Translate the “Odyssey” Into English. New York Times, November 2, 2017.

This is so important. I never knew that the “maidservants” on Ithaka were slaves based on the popular men’s translations that I’ve read before. Fagles and Lattimore have condemned enslaved women as “whores” and “creatures,” blaming them for crimes that they were the victims of. The enslaved women on Ithaka had no say in any aspect of their lives, and Odysseus and Telemachus vitcim-blamed them so severely as to torture them to death. Fagles and Lattimore’s translations of these women are absolutely outrageous, even if they don’t surprise me at all. Another great example as to why we need more women in classics.

[bloodthornfairy]

dark academia but STEM

- pinning the most difficult equations you solved to your wall. Or just the ones you find beautiful

- lots of plants, their names written in the pots. Trying different ways to grow them.

- always having lab gloves in your bag or pockets.

- writing ideas for projects in messy notes, putting them between the pages of your notebooks and forgetting about it

- hands dirty with black ink because you’ve been writing for too long too fast

- massive books under your arms, laptop full of carefully tagged papers while the printed ones are a total mess

- insane eyes and absolute euphoria when you finally understand not only the concept, but where did it came from and how it applies on your daily life

- hair always in a bun or ponytails, short finger nails and none jewelry because ~lab rules~

- searching until late at night the exact equipment the scientists used long ago, what methods they used and imagining how would it be to be in their place.

- Feeling as comfortable in the lab as in the library.

- you hate Victor Frankenstein but legit understand why.

- sore eyes from microscope or screen light, aching backs, still not wanting to leave

- looking at people and thinking about how they truly are: organs, cells, molecules, atoms, protons, eletrons, quarks, leptons…. nothing as one would think,  everything, all the same, too big, too little, all pieces from a big puzzle

- dreaming about the topic you were studying last day

- having an idea about a paper while talking to your friends. Remembering that is not your field and going crazy because SOMEONE needs to research it.

- you are crazy to read some fiction but there are too many papers waiting for you 

- You should be used by now but sometimes still get distracted about how graphics changes according to compartments added.

- finishing a big problem and just staring at it, amazed by how it was unfolded and reorganized until you get to the final answer 

- “we don’t know….yet”

- ethics committee?? How about just test it myself, uh?(that new receipt that later comes out a absolute disaster)

- suddenly knowing how to solve a problem in the middle of a lunch

- notebooks margins filled with equations or formulas vs pages almost blank, with just one note or two

- mental breakdowns after classes thay change your perspective completely

- knowing that the truth depends on how further you can see. We’re always getting closer. Never there.

- Looking at an art piece, wondering what kind of ink was used, how it was when it was made, how time has affected it

[pureenjoment]

Unorganized thoughts; equations written all over a whiteboard; black coffee; determination; cigarette breaks; messy hair; curiosity; not wanting to start and then not wanting to finish; double checking almost every calculation; old wooden desks; having anxiety attacks thinking about the meaning of life; not sharing most of your thoughts with anyone; frustration; appreciating the little things; re-reading the practise questions in hope for a new perspective; notebooks full of chaotic notes; dreams about discovering something new; 

[achillesreborn]

stem dark academia is so beautiful.

scratched notes of equations, detailed diagrams with annotations of bones & blood vessels, old notebooks containing maths problems invented & solved in a quiet afternoon.

classical music blasting from a cheap speaker. cold university dorms with posters of animal bones & carcass that were too beautiful to be passed.

debates over conservation expectations, dancing to the sound of rain after a long lecture. sleepless nights in the library, staring at a screen that no longer makes sense.

kind professors in tweed jackets & loose blouses, demonstrating how to calculate a sum, or take apart a specimen.

dirty fingernails from field work, dirty lab coats from schoolwork.

[modern-austen]

subtitles from Science Gossip, 1900

[inkxlenses]

Palais Garnier - Grand Staircase (3D Model) | by walidlayouni

[juneacademia]

A Beginner’s Guide to Dark Academia

tips for the baby aesthete’s out there

academia

actually study! study the things you love, the things you like, the things you know nothing about — the pursuit of knowledge lasts a lifetime, and there is so much to learn

visit your professor’s office hours! it always helps to make yourself known to your teachers (i’ve been given grade bumps and had great conversations with my university lecturers)

avoid and check yourself for the pretension that can often accompany academia — it hurts no one to be kind and mindful

delve into the realm of philosophy (for starters: metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics) it will broaden your mind

stay late at your university library studying (if you can do so safely, preferably with a friend). university campuses feel magical in the evening

style

wear darker, muted colours

plaid coats, pants, or skirts

button-up shirts (Peter Pan collars are a bonus)

turtlenecks

tie your hair with a bow

accessorise! a vintage watch adds sophistication to any outfit. try wearing it with a ring or three

practice good posture — standing tall creates an air of elegance, confidence, and if paired with the right amount of nonchalance, mystery

media

films

dead poets society

cracks

the dreamers

thoroughbreds

breathless (à bout de souffle)

cléo from 5 to 7 (cléo de 5 à 7)

handsome devil

tv shows

gilmore girls

chilling adventures of sabrina

black mirror

the good place

the politician

books

the secret history

the picture of dorian gray

the goldfinch

the line of beauty

persuasion

the collected poems of oscar wilde 

ovid’s metamorphoses

music

listen to classical music as you sleep/read/study

you can check out this dark academia playlist for inspiration

aesthetic activities (think of this as a little checklist to get you underway as a fledgling aesthete)

make yourself tea in pretty teacups (you can find plenty in secondhand stores!)

light candles in your bedroom, and read by candlelight 

dry flowers for your room/desk

explore secondhand bookstores for old, pretty editions of novels you may or may not have heard of

give handwritten letters to your lovers/friends/yourself

wake up before the sun rises to watch dawn break

brood during a thunderstorm, and write extravagant, flowery poetry on parchment

join a secret society

exist in the real, with your books and art, and your turtlenecks and plaid coats, as a mystery. social media can give too much of you away

host an unceasing bacchanal for you and your pals

I hope this serves as a nice little guide for some of you wanting to get more into the aesthetic! There’s no real right or wrong way to go about it, these are just my suggestions from my own experience and perception of and within the community. 

Enjoy, 

Juniper x

[draculasdaughter]

Cover artworks by George Ziel.