Further nonsense verse and prose

Chapter 9: A BACCHANALIAN ODE[19]

Open in WeRead

About This Book

A varied collection of short pieces that mixes nonsense verse, limericks, parodies, acrostics, playful correspondence, and brief comic prose. Poems range from brisk, absurd ditties to more measured, mildly melancholic lyrics, while prose items include mock-serious essays on manners, whimsical imaginings, and light mathematical or logical pastiches. The pieces rely on inventive wordplay, paradox, and satire of social convention, shifting between ear-catching rhythms and conversational wit. Arranged as a miscellany, the work emphasizes formal experimentation and a childlike playfulness tempered by occasional gentle reflection.

A BACCHANALIAN ODE[19]

Here’s to the Freshman of bashful eighteen!

Here’s to the Senior of twenty!

Here’s to the youth whose moustache can’t be seen!

And here’s to the man who has plenty!

Let the men Pass!

Out of the mass

I’ll warrant we’ll find you some fit for a Class!

Here’s to the Censors, who symbolise Sense,

Just as Mitres incorporate Might, Sir!

To the Bursar, who never expands the expense,

And the Readers who always do right, Sir.

Tutor and Don,

Let them jog on!

I warrant they’ll rival the centuries gone!

[19] From “The Vision of the Three T’s” (Oxford, 1873).