Seven Campus Characters
by W. W. GIBSON
A graduate of Yale in 1940, W. W. GIBSON spent a brief period of study at Harvard before enlisting in the Army in 1941. After four years in the Air Forces, he was released as a First Lieutenant, and has recently joined the faculty of English at Amherst. — THE EDITOR
1
MARRIED to books, this teeming maid
Bears quotes like twins, and undismayed
Rears from them little paragraphs
That grow to books. Nobody laughs.
Bears quotes like twins, and undismayed
Rears from them little paragraphs
That grow to books. Nobody laughs.
2
This stubby Marxist’s time is ripe:
Removes from jaw the massive pipe,
Advances, weaponed, to attack;
Makes his remark, and puts it back.
Removes from jaw the massive pipe,
Advances, weaponed, to attack;
Makes his remark, and puts it back.
3
His wife, Professor Mrs. Z,
Rook-racked, book-backed, and Ph.D.,
Perambulates her ten-pound thesis.
Oh what, a bouncing exegesis!
Rook-racked, book-backed, and Ph.D.,
Perambulates her ten-pound thesis.
Oh what, a bouncing exegesis!
4
More pitiable, this wandering Jew:
Vienna, London, and here too
He whimpers on the social fringe.
We hate his cosmopolitan cringe.
Vienna, London, and here too
He whimpers on the social fringe.
We hate his cosmopolitan cringe.
5
Lean, lonely-eyed, a little odd,
X stalks his room, he talks to God,
He looks in books for Truth. The search
Ends only in the only Church.
X stalks his room, he talks to God,
He looks in books for Truth. The search
Ends only in the only Church.
6
The world in Y’s thick glasses shows
No bitter fading of the rose.
It’s not precisely that he shrinks
From Truth, but looks at her, and blinks.
No bitter fading of the rose.
It’s not precisely that he shrinks
From Truth, but looks at her, and blinks.
7
Well, what is Truth? cries this ex-gob.
On deck, Professor! That’s your job.
It’s Answers, Answers, he demands them.
They’re facile if he understands them.
On deck, Professor! That’s your job.
It’s Answers, Answers, he demands them.
They’re facile if he understands them.