It’s no coincidence that the G&Ds chain of ice-cream shops is an Oxford institution. Almost every sentence is quotable, but her appreciation of summers in Oxford stands out.īy British standards Oxford summers are warmer, drier and sunnier than most of the rest of the country, but summer in Oxford is more than just pleasant weather. It’s not of much use to a tourist trying to decide which museum to go to, but it captures the spirit of the city beautifully. #Oxford english dictionary book quotes series#Her 1965 book on Oxford, one of a series on cities that also includes Venice, Hong Kong and Sydney, demonstrates this perfectly. In a long and prolific career she has written works of history, novels, essays and travel fiction, though she has said that she prefers not to be described as a travel writer her works are about places and people, not journeys. Historian and writer Jan Morris is a graduate of Christ Church, Oxford, a college which later made her an honorary fellow. “Summer is more summery here than anywhere else I know not hotter, certainly not sunnier, but more like summers used to be, in everyone’s childhood memories.” – Jan Morris Though the scene isn’t quite the same as it was in the mid-nineteenth century, with more houses and trees obscuring some of the view, it’s still possible to climb Boars Hill and look down over Oxford just as Clough and Arnold did. It was Clough who had first taken Arnold to admire the view from the hill. Though Oxford’s spires stand out when the city is seen from almost any direction, the scene that Arnold is commemorating is the view from Boars Hill, southwest of Oxford. The poem was written in 1865, and Clough had died four years previously, after a lengthy struggle with his health. The poem looks back nostalgically on their time at Oxford together. With him as an undergraduate at Balliol was a friend from his schooldays, fellow poet Arthur Hugh Clough, in whose memory these lines were written as part of a much longer poem, Thyrsis. He was also the only Professor of Poetry to date to be elected to the position twice, in 18. He’s credited with creating the Professorship in its modern form by speaking on contemporary work and being the first in the role to deliver his lectures in English, rather than Latin. Arnold was himself an Oxford graduate, studying at Balliol College and later elected a Fellow of Oriel College, then Professor of Poetry. If you’ve never heard any other quote about Oxford, you’ve probably heard a reference to Matthew Arnold’s description of “her dreaming spires”. “That sweet city with her dreaming spires/ She needs not June for beauty’s heightening.” – Matthew Arnold In this article, we’ve looked at a variety of memorable and evocative quotations about the wonderful city and university of Oxford. Over the centuries, countless writers have been inspired to try to capture the essence of Oxford in poetry and in prose.
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