Oxford Poems

Interesting lecture today by Dr. Clare Connors of Queen's College on "Oxford in Literature." The lecture was actually limited to Oxford as it appears in poetry. She gave us a nice handout with outstanding examples through the years.


Oxford
Here colleges in sweet confusion rise,
There temples seem to reach their native skies;
Spires, towers, and groves compose the various shew,
And mingled prospects charm the doubting view.
Thomas Tickell (1686-1740)

Oxford, May 30, 1820
YE sacred Nurseries of blooming Youth!
In whose collegiate shelter England's Flowers
Expand, enjoying through their vernal hours
The air of liberty, the light of truth;
Much have ye suffered from Time's gnawing tooth:
Yet, O ye spires of Oxford! domes and towers!
Gardens and groves! your presence overpowers
The soberness of reason; till, in sooth,
Transformed, and rushing on a bold exchange,
I slight my own beloved Cam, to range 10
Where silver Isis leads my stripling feet;
Pace the long avenue, or glide adown
The stream-like windings of that glorious street--
An eager Novice robed in fluttering gown!
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

The clever men at Oxford
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they non of them know half as much
As intelligent Mr. Toad.
Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932), from Wind in the Willows

And finally, here's two rather rude Oxford limericks:

A beauty, a perfect divinity,
Till twenty retained her virginity.
The boys up at Magdalen [pronounced "maudlin"]
Must have been dawdlin';
It couldn't have happened at Trinity.


There was a young student at Johns [St. John's College]
Who attempted to fondle the swans.
whereupon said the porter,
"Oh, pray take my daughter.
The birds are reserved for the dons."