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CAP AND GOWN

A Treasury of College Verse

Selected by

Frederic Lawrence Knowles

_Editor of "The Golden Treasury of American Songs and Lyrics," etc.

1897

TO THEREVERED MEMORYOF AGREAT SCHOLAR AND GREAT TEACHERWHOM I WAS ONCE PROUDTO CALL MY FRIEND,

Frances James Child,

THIS LITTLE BOOKIS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED.

In "Cap and Gown" you look in vain
For epic or heroic strain.
Not ours to scale the heights sublime,
Which hardly masters dare to climb;
We only sing of youth and joy,
And love,—the credo of the boy!

PREFATORY NOTE

The gay verses which celebrate undergraduate life must not be taken tooseriously. They seldom pretend to the dignity of poetry. College verse,if I understand it, is verse suited to the period and point of view ofundergraduate days. Light, graceful, humorous, sparkling,—this itshould be for the most part; serious sometimes, it is true,—for youngmen and women about to take upon themselves the responsibilities ofmature life are at heart by no means frivolous, but touching the note ofgrief, if at all, almost as though by accident. Life is often sad enoughin the after-years, and for the period of sorrow, sad verse may be inplace. Happy they who have not yet traded cap and bells (never farhidden under cap and gown) for the

"Sable stole of cypress lawn."

Happier still if they never need make such a sorry exchange.

Yes, like all sound art, college verse must, above all else, be honest.Let us not say, however, that the thoughtful moods of young men andwomen may not sincerely be set to the music of verse. One department inthis collection bears the name "In Serious Mood," and its sentimentrings as true as that of any other.

In looking over very many undergraduate papers, I have been struck withseveral facts. I will give them for what they are worth, leaving theirexplanation to others. First, there seems to be a general fondness forthe sonnet, and a very general lack of success in writing it. Second,the French forms of light verse are exceedingly popular—particularlythe rondeau, ballade, and triolet. These, more easily lending themselvesto gay moods than does the sonnet, are written with much greatersuccess. Triolets are perhaps least often, rondeaus most often,successful. Third, purely sentimental verse is little written in women'scolleges, its place being taken by poetry of nature or of reflection.Oddly enough, when it is attempted, the writer usually fancies herselfthe lover, and describes feminine, not masculine, beauty. College girlsshow possibly more maturity of reflective power than do their brothers,but they are notably weaker in the sense of humor. Fourth, amongst somuch merely graceful verse, there are not wanting touches here and thereof genuine poetry. I shall be disappointed if the reader does notdiscover many such in this little book.

While I have confined myself, for the most part, to verse printed in thecollege publications of the past five years, I have overstepped thislimit in a few instances. None of the poems in the present book,however, were included in the first series published in 1892.

Thanks are due Messrs. Andrus & Church, of Ithaca, N.Y., for theirgenerous loan of bound files of the Cornell