Classic and Contemporary Poetry
RUBAIYYAT OF MODERATIONS, by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY Poet's Biography First Line: Wake! For the nightingale upon the bough Last Line: And thank your stars that there 's an end of it. Alternate Author Name(s): Godley, A. D. Subject(s): Oxford University | ||||||||
I WAKE! for the Nightingale upon the Bough Has sung of Moderations: ay, and now Pales in the Firmament above the Schools The Constellation of the boding Plough. II I too in distant Ages long ago To him that ploughed me gave a Quid or so: It was a Fraud: it was not good enough: Ne'er for my Quid had I my Quid pro Quo. III Yet -- for the Man who pays his painful Pence Some Laws may frame from dark Experience: Still from the Wells of harsh Adversity May Wisdom draw the Pail of Common Sense -- IV Take these few Rules, which -- carefully rehearsed -- Will land the User safely in a First, Second, or Third, or Gulf: and after all There's nothing lower than a Plough at worst. V Plain is the Trick of doing Latin Prose; An Esse Videantur at the Close Makes it to all Intents and Purposes As good as anything of Cicero's. VI Yet let it not your anxious Mind perturb Should Grammar's Law your Diction fail to curb: Be comforted: it is like Tacitus: 'Tis mostly done by leaving out the Verb. VII Mark well the Point: and thus your Answer fit That you thereto all Reference omit, But argue still about it and about Of This, and That, and T'Other -- not of It. VIII Say, why should You upon your proper Hook Dilate on Things which whoso cares to look Will find, in Libraries or otherwhere, Already stated in a printed Book? IX Keep clear of Facts: the Fool who deals in those A Mucker he inevitably goes: The dusty Don who looks your Paper o'er He knows about it all -- or thinks he knows. X A Pipe, a Teapot, and a Pencil blue, A Crib, perchance a Lexicon -- and You Beside him singing in a Wilderness Of Suppositions palpably untrue -- XI 'Tis all he needs: he is content with these: Not Facts he wants, but soft Hypotheses Which none need take the Pains to verify: This is the Way that Men obtain Degrees! XII 'Twixt Right and Wrong the Difference is dim: 'Tis settled by the Moderator's Whim: Perchance the Delta on your Paper marked Means that his Lunch has disagreed with him: XIII Perchance the Issue lies in Fortune's Lap: For if the Names be shaken in a Cap (As some aver) then Truth and Fallacy No longer signify a single Rap. XIV Nay! till the Hour for pouring out the Cup Of Tea post-prandial calls you home to sup, And from the dark Invigilator's Chair The mild Muezzin whispers 'Time is Up' -- XV The Moving Finger writes: then, having writ, The Product of your Scholarship and Wit Deposit in the proper Pigeonhole -- And thank your Stars that there 's an End of it. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHRIST CHURCH MEADOWS, OXFORD by DONALD HALL OXFORD, THIRTY YEARS AFTER by JOHN UPDIKE THE SCHOLAR GIPSY by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE SPIRES OF OXFORD by WINIFRED MARY LETTS THE TALENTED MAN by WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED SONNET: ON HAVING DINED AT TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD by JOHN CODRINGTON BAMPFYLDE THE BALLAD OF MY FRIEND by J. D. BEAZLEY LETTER TO B.W. PROCTOR, ESQ., FROM OXFORD; MAY, 1825 by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES A DIALOGUE ON ETHICS by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY A HANDBOOK TO HOMER by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY A NEW DIALOGUE OF THE DEAD; ODYSSEUS AND ARISTOTLE by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY |
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