Oxbridge - A clerihew - to cool your nerves

Hello everyone.

I know you're all nervous and/or scared for the decision letters this week. So, here is a whimsical clerihew to cool your nerves.

Oxbridge decision
You cannot know with precision
****ed up as the time's nigh
Little choice then but to get high.

Good luck for everyone.
Balaji.

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Reply 1

Speleo

Aren't clerihews about a person, who is named in the first line?

Oxbridge aren't going to look favourably upon that *tut-tut*

Reply 2

7589200

Speleo

Aren't clerihews about a person, who is named in the first line?

Oxbridge aren't going to look favourably upon that *tut-tut*

geek

Reply 3

Speleo

dictionary.com :tongue:

Reply 4

BRavichandran

Generally, yes. For example, I just wrote this:

Saddam Hussein
His life ended in a hostile vein
Loved dictator he certainly was not
Media attention to the hilt he got.

But, they can also be about some institution/process that's very important. Bentley (after whom clerihew is named) himself wrote one on the Art of Biography.

The Art of Biography
Is different from Geography.
Geography is about Maps,
But Biography is about Chaps.

B.

Reply 5

Speleo

I'm sorry, but I agree with the postmodern neo-classical outlook, which most vehemently asserts that a clerihew must be about a sentient being.

...

Reply 6

BRavichandran

Ha ha... Then you should not label yourself post-modern in outlook... It's paradoxical.

Reply 7

Speleo

But is the paradox not the essence of post-modernism?

Reply 8

7589200

Speleo

But is the paradox not the essence of post-modernism?

geek

- You're meant to recite digits of pi!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not this!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply 9

BRavichandran

Not if you label yourself a neoclassicist. I'm having trouble reconciling the two. Sorry. But then post-modernism is not about reconciliation. So, you might well be right.

Reply 10

Speleo

The apparent incompatibility of the styles serves only to fuel the paradox that lies within postmodernism - indeed one could say that it is the apotheosis of postmodernism, wrapped up inside postmodernism itself.

Reply 11

BRavichandran

I'm no post-modernist. But you certainly are. Planning to be the next Lyotard?

Reply 12

Ronove

BRavichandran

I'm no post-modernist. But you certainly are. Planning to be the next Lyotard?

That's what you wear if you do gymnastics isn't it?

Reply 13

Speleo

Pfft. I reject Lyotard's nods towards Kant within his concept of the sublime, though more personally I admire his work with the Socialisme ou Barbarie.

My postmodernism draws more heavily from the varied writings of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein.

Reply 14

BRavichandran

I'm intrigued... What do you do? Have you applied for Cambridge this year? If so, to do what?

Reply 15

BRavichandran

Ronove

That's what you wear if you do gymnastics isn't it?

Ha ha!

Reply 16

Speleo

Yes, for mathematics. I model myself after the polymaths of old.

(actually I know almost nothing about literature or philosophy, I'm just making stuff up with the help of wikipedia :tongue:

)

Reply 17

BRavichandran

Naughty, naughty you... But, we do have a similarity, in that I aspire to be a polymath myself. (But, I certainly didn't tune into Wikipedia everytime I posted a message.) Well, the diversity of my interests means I'm a jack of all trades anyway... Ha ha!

Oh, by the way, I very much guessed that you are a wikipediholic, when you included Neitzsche in your list...

Reply 18

Speleo

Can you do mathematics?

Reply 19

BRavichandran

I did a lot of math before I took up medicine. Now, I remember almost next to nothing. That's the curse of taking up medicine. Two years down the line, and you end up learning greek and latin, and forget things you really loved.

Thankfully, the year I've taken out has rekindled my interest in the outside world. So, given some time, yes, I could do math. Certainly not now! :-)