Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Oxford | | The Chestnut of Brazenose | | Henry Glassford Bell (1803–1874) |
| | | DOCTORS from Radcliffe’s dome look down on thee, | |
| Unconscious chestnut with the leafy crown! | |
| And so on unpruned nature, fresh and free, | |
| Learning too often looks complacent down,— | |
| Learning decorous in her cap and gown, | 5 |
| And feasting on the brains of men long dead, | |
| What should she see in all this stately town | |
| To make her bend the knee or veil the head? | |
| And yet not Plato, not the Stagyrite, | |
| Could teach a bud to expand into a flower; | 10 |
| Take then thy pen, book-worshipper, and write, | |
| Learning is but a secondary power,— | |
| And look not down, but reverently look up | |
| To every blossomed spray that rears its dewy cup! | | | | |
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