Poem for Convocation
 

I have been asked to read a poem on the program of this fall's Convocation for the entering freshman class at my university. Naturally, they want something that will emphasize themes of responsibility, maturity, individuality, self-discipline, finding one's direction in life, going off on one's own for the first time, excitement about the future, and so forth. I have considered the usual suspects ("Invictus," "If," "The Road Not Taken," etc.) but am not really happy with any of them. My own poems don't really fit the occasion, either. Does anyone have a suggestion? Or a poem?!

Inflictus

So long as Providence provides,
So long at Gratitude is grat,
So long as Abstinence abstins,
So long as Flatulence is flat,

So long as Persecution’s pers,
So long as Implication’s imp,
So long as Imperfection’s fect,
So long as Whimpering can whimp–

Clutched by fell Circumstance’s circ,
And smeared with Crapulence’s crap,
I’ll float flags on my Master’s mast
And sport my little Captain’s cap

And swear before Almighty might
That, faced with Criticism’s crit
And Castigation’s nasty cast,
I’ll speak no Bitterness’s bit.

R.S. Gwynn (see Met board.)

Inflictus would be fine! If you read Invictus or If, I swear I will track you down and make you apologize to all those fine young people if it takes the rest of my life.

As a setting-out-for-yonder poem, I've always liked the ending of Tennyson's
"Ulysses." Nothing can hit all those points, but that at least gets at enthusiasm and lofty goals. Will think further....

Ted Hughes' A March Calf.

Auden's 'Atlantis,' perhaps?

Actually, Julie, I'll second Ed's excellent suggestion.

"This Be the Verse." :eek:

There is actually an Auden poem he wrote specifically for such an occasion, or for an occasion very similar. I remember because of the highly unusual rhyme-scheme. The last foot of one line rhymed with the penultimate foot of the next.

Sadly, anything much longer than a sonnet is likely not fitting for the occasion. I would think two minutes would be the outer limit of the gathered throng's patience... ;)

Thanks,

Bill

Dylan's "Forever Young" (just the lyrics would be fine)
Dr Seuss "Oh the places you will go" (not his best work, but apt and cute)

Ditto. Julie, I think you'd find yourself beset by Erinnyes-Spherians if you "go there." For chrissake they'll already be having to deal with the musical Invictus of "Land of Hope and Glory" AKA "Pomp and Circumstance."

You could of course make them laugh by doing the Polonius monologue from Hamlet.

But for a more serious suggestion, considering the world economy how about Auden's "Leap Before you Look" or Snodgrass's "The Campus on the Hill?"

OK OK! So that was only half serious. Blimey, it's a surprisingly tough assignment. I think Stevens's "The Idea of Order at Key West" is an excellent poem for putting a young person in proper mind of the world, but I suspect it might be a bit of a stretch for what you're looking for.

There's of course plenty from Elizabethan and Jacobean poetry, some I can think of from Persian and some from Victorian poetry. But I'm thinking now that the world does need a good, modern poem for such an occasion. Maybe with inspiration from all the various ideas that have emerged in this thread, you can work on supplying just such a masterpiece.

Do I assume, Julie, that Finale is absolutely out of the question?

Bill, it's called apocopated rhyme.

Thanks! I knew there was some term, but I never would have found that! Of course, now I'll have to struggle to remember it... ;)

Thanks,

Bill

Wow, great suggestions so far--most of them for serious consideration, and a few for chuckles!

"The Waking" by Theodore Roethke . . .

I don't get it, Catherine. Why is the Roethke appropriate for this occasion?

Sam beat me to my first choice. My second: "High Windows."

I guess you never had a 7 a.m. class, Roger.

April Inventory... ;)

Instead of reading the last part of Tennyson's Ulysses, why not read the last part of James Joyce's Ulysses? I guarantee you will have their full attention.

Yes........

Well, that'll tell them how their professors feel, or at least their older professors. (I do love that poem, though.)

Ithaka- it's the Hallmark choice, but there's a reason for that - it can be hastening or tarrying, coming or going - and it's so much fun to read.

Frank

Frank,
Auden's riff off "Ithaka"--"Atlantis"--might be even more fun to read...
Dave

Just for the fun of it, here's the last verse of Thomas Hardy's
"An Ancient to Ancients":

And ye, red-lipped and smooth-browed, list,
Gentlemen:
Much is there waits you we have missed;
Much lore we leave you worth the knowing,
Much, much has lain outside our ken:
Nay, rush not: Time serves: We are going,
Gentlemen.