Oxford by Gerald Gould
Gould read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\n\nGiving voice to classic poetry.\n\n---------------------------------------------------\n\n Oxford \nby Gerald Gould (1885 \u2013 1936)\n\nI came to Oxford in the light\n Of a spring-coloured afternoon;\n Some clouds were grey and some were white,\n And all were blown to such a tune\n Of quiet rapture in the sky,\n I laughed to see them laughing by.\n\n I had been dreaming in the train\n With thoughts at random from my book;\n I looked, and read, and looked again,\n And suddenly to greet my look\n Oxford shone up with every tower\n Aspiring sweetly like a flower.\n\n Home turn the feet of men that seek,\n And home the hearts of children turn,\n And none can teach the hour to speak\n What every hour is free to learn;\n And all discover, late or soon,\n Their golden Oxford afternoon.\n\n\nComments \n\nAlthough the New York Times proclaimed in 1912 that \u201cGerald Gould Can Now Be Called a Great Poet\u201d (for the review see: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B00E5DB133AE633A25753C1A9659C946396D6CF&oref=slogin), time has not favoured him.\n\nI think this may be a mistake. Classic Poetry Aloud aims to balance famous with worthy, but less well-known poets such as Gould. It would be a pity if a man who played a part in the evolution of British 20th Century verse as a reviewer and journalist was not also remembered for his own poetry.