The Game: H parents bite thumb at us

<p>Also, I'm afraid I don't understand gadad's post... a villanelle is a 19-line poem in 6 stanzas, like this most famous one:</p>

<p>
[QUOTE]

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.</p>

<p>Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.</p>

<p>Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.</p>

<p>Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.</p>

<p>Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.</p>

<p>And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>or this rather infamous one (at Harvard, anyway):</p>

<p>The</a> Harvard Crimson :: Opinion :: A Villanelle on the Faculty</p>

<p>
[QUOTE]

The Faculty Council mused about its forum,
Attendance at monthly meetings dwindled low.
“We think the problem must be with the quorum!”</p>

<p>“We must not stoop to pressure or implore ‘em,
Who cares if the professors never go?”
The Faculty Council mused about its forum.</p>

<p>“Like Amaker, let’s lower standards for ‘em!
From one-sixth to one-eighth will do, you know;
We think the problem must be with the quorum,”</p>

<p>“And not with our debasement of decorum,
Or with the J. Lorand Matory show,”
The Faculty Council mused about its forum.</p>

<p>Alas, this measure never went before ‘em,
The Dean called off the meeting, and apropos,
We think the problem must be with the quorum.</p>

<p>Oh Faculty! We cannot but deplore ‘em!
What valuable discussion they forgo!
And still they only muse about their forum:
“We think the problem must be with the quorum!”

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>What riverrunner posted was a limerick.</p>

<p>Thanks for the kudos. </p>

<p>I'm proud of the forced pronunciation of "cement" the redneck way, making it accessible to many of us lacking the benefits of an Ivy education. Which begs the question, are there rednecks in the Ivy League? Food for thought.</p>

<p>Daughter still sitting in an airport half way between New Haven and home. FYI you future parents of Elis. It IS pretty far away, for some of us....</p>

<p>Also importantly, note the original terms of the wager as you posted them:</p>

<p>
[QUOTE]
The gambler whose team loses has to write a couplet, haiku, limerick, sonnet, or villanelle extolling the opposing school's team- and then set it as their signature for one week.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>I don't see it in your signature... :)</p>

<p>Us Georgia folk appreciate your redneck poetic license.</p>

<p>For those still uncertain, here's nother excellent villanelle by Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney:</p>

<p>Villanelle for an Anniversary</p>

<p>A spirit moved. John Harvard walked the yard,
The atom lay unsplit, the west unwon,
The books stood open and the gates unbarred.</p>

<p>The maps dreamt on like moondust. Nothing stirred.
The future was a verb in hibernation.
A spirit moved, John Harvard walked the yard.</p>

<p>Before the classic style, before the clapboard,
All through the small hours of an origin,
The books stood open and the gate unbarred.</p>

<p>Night passage of a migratory bird.
Wingflap. Gownflap. Like a homing pigeon
A spirit moved, John Harvard walked the yard.</p>

<p>Was that his soul (look) sped to its reward
By grace or works? A shooting star? An omen?
The books stood open and the gate unbarred.</p>

<p>Begin again where frosts and tests were hard.
Find yourself or founder. Here, imagine
A spirit moves, John Harvard walks the yard,
The books stand open and the gates unbarred.</p>

<pre><code>-- Seamus Heaney
</code></pre>

<p>Admiral, I'm feeling like a dunce but I can't figure out how to add/change my signature. I'm not a welcher. Really.</p>

<p>and coureur, I love this villanelle, particularly the line,</p>

<p>"Begin again where frosts and tests were hard."</p>

<p>Will share with daughter. I know, I know it's colder in Cambridge, (yet another area of superiority to glorify) but it's pretty darned cold in New Haven about now, too.</p>

<p>^^Yes, I like it too. Heaney wrote it to commemorate Harvard's 350th year. I particularly like how the first five stanzas are all in past tense, but in the last stanza he shifts into present tense and speaks directly to current students.</p>

<p>RR, I'm glad you started this thread for The Game. We had a nice group going on the H Parents Thread, with a lot of mutual emotional support for parents sending their frosh off. Then, two weekends ago, we all went to H's Parents Weekend and saw for ourselves that our kids were not only surviving but thriving without us. The H Parents Thread has slowed to a crawl since that weekend, and I don't see the Yale Parents' Thread anywhere near the front of the Yale boards either.</p>