THE UNDERGRAD.
HIS fists across his breast he laid,
He was more mad than words can say;
Bareheaded rushed the undergrad
To mingle in November's fray.
In cap and gown a don stepped down
To meet and greet him on his way;
"It is no wonder," said his friends,
"He has been drinking half the day."
All black and blue, like cloud and skies,
Next day that proctor's face was seen;
Bruised were his eyebrows, bruised his eyes,
Bruised was his nose and pummelled mien.
So dire a case, such black disgrace,
Since Oxford was had never been;
That undergrad took change of air
At the suggestion of the dean.
This is taken from Odd Echoes from Oxford, 1872, and is a parody on The Beggar Maid and King Cophetua, which was also in the 1842 collection.
In a little volume by C. S. Calverley entitled "Fly Leaves," (George Bell & Sons, 1878) there are several clever parodies, and one, entitled Wanderers, is an especially happy imitation of the style of Tennyson's Brook:—