Shakespeare at Toggers

Now all the youth of Oxford are on fire
And dog-eared learning in the Radder lies.
They sell the boathouse now to buy the oars,
And Isis trembles underneath her banks
At name of ‘Toggers.’
          
Now the straining crews
Bayed by the coxswains, lash the servile stream
Into a fury. ‘Bang! and ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’
What time the multitude, with hoarse acclaim,
Charge, bison-like, eyes right, along the towpath –
Men, women, babies, cripples and bicycles,
One rout. Here, like a tall o’er-topping tree,
The coach, with megaphone and self-importance,
Runs madly, or with sad chapfallen face
Groans, ‘All rowed fast, but none so fast as stroke.’
Here parents, friends, and visitors confused
Cheer the wrong boat, or slowly freeze to death
In loyal silence. Here the college scarf
In glorious technicolor flaunts the breeze,
Its owner scarce appearing. And here, elate,
‘Mid pistol-volleys, wild frivolities,
Leapings and shouts, the triumph-mad supporters –
The crown, the palm, the ecstasy of Toggers –
Cry ‘Bump, by Harry, meet me at the George!’

Oxford satires

  • Oxford Revisited

    Oxford! What change indeed is here!
    Where are the sweets of yesteryear?

  • Shakespeare at Toggers

    Now all the youth of Oxford are on fire
    And dog-eared learning in the Radder lies.

  • Omar in Stat. Pup.

    Awake! For morning like a faithful Scout,
    Has touched the switch that put repose to rout,

  • Punt Counter Punt

    Mid all these problems we’re confronting
    I come to sing the praise of punting! –

  • Summer Song

    The Summer Term! What tales are told
    By greybeards of the days of old –

  • Tale of an ex-Static Water Tank

    Beside the Camera’s bulk rotund
    The impassioned prophet strode,

  • A Vision of Degree Day

    The drowsy air, the throngs that gaze,
    The ceremonial stir,
    Mixed with the drone of Latin phrase..