Added For The Alumni Meeting, June 29,

So the gray Boatswain of 'Twenty-nine
Piped to "The Boys" as they crossed the line;
Round the cabin sat thirty guests,
Babes of the nurse with a thousand breasts.

There were the judges, grave and grand,
Flanked by the priests on either hand;
There was the lord of wealth untold,
And the dear good fellow in broadcloth old.

Thirty men, from twenty towns,
Sires and grandsires with silvered crowns, -
Thirty school-boys all in a row, -
Bens and Georges and Bill and Joe.

In thirty goblets the wine was poured,
But threescore gathered around the board, -
For lo! at the side of every chair
A shadow hovered - we all were there!

Oliver Wendell Holmes

A member of the Fireside Poets, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was an American physician, poet, and polymath known for his witty and conversational style. His medical writings and advocacy for public hygiene were influential, while his poetry often drew from his professional experiences and observations. Holmes was also a founding contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, where many of his essays and poems were published.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Dorothy Q. - A Family Portrait

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Simple Poetry

The Opening Of The Piano

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Simple Poetry

The Stethoscope Song - A Professional Ballad

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Simple Poetry

All Here

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

A Song Of "Twenty-Nine"

1851

The summer dawn is breaking
On Auburn's tangled bowers,
The golden light is waking
On Harvard's ancient towers;
The sun is in the sky
That must see us do or die,
Ere it shine on the line
Of the CLASS OF '29.

At last the day is ended,
The tutor screws no more,
By doubt and fear attended
Each hovers round the door,
Till the good old Praeses cries,
While the tears stand in his eyes,
"You have passed, and are classed
With the Boys of '29."

Not long are they in making
The college halls their own,
Instead of standing shaking,
Too bashful to be known;
But they kick the Seniors' shins
Ere the second week begins,
When they stray in the way
Of the BOYS OF '29.

If a jolly set is trolling
The l...

Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Parting Song - Festival Of The Alumni, 1857

The noon of summer sheds its ray
On Harvard's holy ground;
The Matron calls, the sons obey,
And gather smiling round.


CHORUS.
Then old and young together stand,
The sunshine and the snow,
As heart to heart, and hand in hand,
We sing before we go!


Her hundred opening doors have swung
Through every storied hall
The pealing echoes loud have rung,
"Thrice welcome one and all!"
Then old and young, etc.

We floated through her peaceful bay,
To sail life's stormy seas
But left our anchor where it lay
Beneath her green old trees.
Then old and young, etc.

As now we lift its lengthening chain,
That held us fast of old,
The rusted rings grow bright again, -
Their iron turns to gold.
Then old and young,...

Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Boys

1859

Has there any old fellow got mixed with the boys?
If there has, take him out, without making a noise.
Hang the Almanac's cheat and the Catalogue's spite!
Old Time is a liar! We're twenty to-night!

We're twenty! We're twenty! Who says we are more?
He's tipsy, - young jackanapes! - show him the door!
"Gray temples at twenty?" - Yes! white if we please;
Where the snow-flakes fall thickest there's nothing can freeze!

Was it snowing I spoke of? Excuse the mistake!
Look close, - you will see not a sign of a flake!
We want some new garlands for those we have shed, -
And these are white roses in place of the red.

We've a trick, we young fellows, you may have been told,
Of talking (in public) as if we were old: -
That boy we call "Doctor," and t...

Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Shadows

"How many have gone?" was the question of old
Ere Time our bright ring of its jewels bereft;
Alas! for too often the death-bell has tolled,
And the question we ask is, "How many are left?"

Bright sparkled the wine; there were fifty that quaffed;
For a decade had slipped and had taken but three.
How they frolicked and sung, how they shouted and laughed,
Like a school full of boys from their benches set free!

There were speeches and toasts, there were stories and rhymes,
The hall shook its sides with their merriment's noise;
As they talked and lived over the college-day times, -
No wonder they kept their old name of "The Boys"!

The seasons moved on in their rhythmical flow
With mornings like maidens that pouted or smiled,
With the bud and the leaf and th...

Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Lady Margaret 5th Boat

    May, 1863.

    1. BOYCOTT, W.                        
    2. FERGUSON, R. S.                
    3. BOWLING, E. W.                
    4. SMITH, JASON.                    
    5. PALEY, G. A.
    6. GORST, P. F.
    7. SECKER, J. H.
    8. FISHER, J.
    
                        Steerer - BUSHELL, W. D.

    Eight B.A.'s stout from town came out M.A. degrees to take,
    And made a vow from stroke to bow a bump or two to make.
    Weary were they and jaded with the din of London town,
    And they felt a tender longing for their long-lost cap and gown.
    So they sought the old Loganus: well pleased, I trow, was he,
    The manly forms he knew so well once more again to see:
    And they cried - "O old Loganus, can'st thou find us e...

Edward Woodley Bowling

The Coming Boat Race.


 
  
   OXFORD.
   CAMBRIDGE.
  
  
   1. R. T. RAIKES.
   1. J. STILL.
  
  
   2. F. CROWDER.
   2. J. R. SELWYN.
  
  
   3. W. FREEMAN.
   3. J. A. BOURKE.
  
  
   4. F. WILLAN.
   4. J. FORTESCUE.
  
  
   5. E. F. HENLEY.
   5. D. F. STEVENSON.
  
  
   6. W. W. WOOD.
   6. R. A. KINGLAKE.
  
  
   7. H. P. SENHOUSE.
   7. H. WATNEY.
  
  
   8. M. BROWN.
   8. W. R. GRIFFITHS.
  
  
   Steerer - C. R. W. TOTTENHAM.
   Steerer - A. FORBES.
  
 



    Attend, all ye who wish to see the names
            of...

Edward Woodley Bowling

OXFORD.	CAMBRIDGE.
1. R. T. RAIKES.	1. J. STILL.
2. F. CROWDER.	2. J. R. SELWYN.
3. W. FREEMAN.	3. J. A. BOURKE.
4. F. WILLAN.	4. J. FORTESCUE.
5. E. F. HENLEY.	5. D. F. STEVENSON.
6. W. W. WOOD.	6. R. A. KINGLAKE.
7. H. P. SENHOUSE.	7. H. WATNEY.
8. M. BROWN.	8. W. R. GRIFFITHS.
Steerer - C. R. W. TOTTENHAM.	Steerer - A. FORBES.