Duns Scotus's Oxford

Towery city and branchy between towers;Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmèd, lark-charmèd, rook-racked, river-rounded;The dapple-eared lily below thee; that country and town didOnce encounter in, here coped and poisèd powers;

Thou hast a base and brickish skirt there, soursThat neighbour-nature thy grey beauty is groundedBest in; graceless growth, thou hast confoundedRural rural keeping—folk, flocks, and flowers.

Yet ah! this air I gather and I releaseHe lived on; these weeds and waters, these walls are whatHe haunted who of all men most sways my spirits to peace;

Of realty the rarest-veinèd unraveller; a notRivalled insight, be rival Italy or Greece;Who fired France for Mary without spot.