Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MEGALOMANIA, BY A FOURTH YEAR MAN (AFTER MILTON), by RONALD ARBUTHNOTT KNOX Poet's Biography First Line: Hence, vain committee meetings Last Line: And I will get a_______in greats. Subject(s): Oxford University | ||||||||
HENCE, vain Committee meetings, Of politics and social fervour born, Meals at the Grid, and grinds that break the morn: Hence, peaceful punt and noisy Quad, To some retreat by man untrod, Some limbo yet impenetrate of Keating's. But come, my goddess that shalt be, Humaniores Literae; Come, with lecture-haunting haste, And note-books cunningly enlac'd, Come with Hope and simple Faith And philosophick Shibboleth, And ancient History in thy train, Pensive, sober, and humane. When I rise, no punctual Dean Shall summon me at 1.15, No jealous pen the record keep Betwixt my Matins and my sleep. So to breakfast, and anon I rise t' attend the drowsy don, Telling his rosary evermore Of Tacit, Grote, and Diodore: Still will I walk, from dawn to dusk In raiment sordid and subfusc, Ever, in thought, the candid tie Shall be my neck's phylactery. And I will take, 'neath wintry skies, My postmeridian exercise To Ferry Hincksey, or the Parks, Now in Oxon, now in Berks, With an uncomplaining friend Discoursing wisely of the End: (Wherewith the nimble Stagirite Commenc'd his work, and said, when night O'ertook him prating of the Meoov, "Let us begin" -- the Second Lesson). Then will I to my books again Till the whisky'd hour of ten, Or such time as the weary'd Progs Call in their base-informing dogs. Such life might well the Gods beseem. Then to bed at night, to dream Of Alphas struggling with a pair Of Categories in the air. Love-lorn Idealists, that seek Presentations most unique, And golfers playing, frantick souls, Round Copulas of eighteen Wholes. And ever, to delude my foes, Wrap me in a cynick pose Of intellectual despair, Holier than hermit's shirt of hair. These give me, and a score of dates, And I will get a_______in Greats. | 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 ABSOLUTE AND ABITOFHELL by RONALD ARBUTHNOTT KNOX THE VISITOR'S BOOK; HARTLAND QUAY by RONALD ARBUTHNOTT KNOX THE VISITORS' BOOK; BOURTON-ON-THE-WATER (AFTER LUNCH) by RONALD ARBUTHNOTT KNOX |
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