‘Towery city and branchy between towers’ – the opening line
of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem ‘Duns Scotus’s Oxford’ has always summed up for
me the appearance of England’s first university city on a sunny morning. One of
Oxford’s greatest attractions is this sense of continuity with the past – the idea
that the city looked much the same over a century ago and even further back
than that. So for any Victorianists looking to take a trip to Oxford in the
near future, I’ve compiled a list of attractions which could help you feel even
closer to the Oxford of Hopkins and his contemporaries:
Print of Merton College, Oxford |
Have a pint in
Hardy-named pub: Jude may not have made it into a Christminster college but
you can visit his namesake pub in Oxford – Jude the Obscure in Jericho. There’s
also a Far from the Madding Crowd more centrally.
The library at the Oxford Union |
Admire the pre-Raphaelite
murals in the Union: The Oxford Union, Oxford’s student debating society
(founded 1823), boasts beautiful buildings, as well as an illustrious history.
Commissioned by John Ruskin, the library murals depict scenes from Arthurian
myth (think Tennyson) and were painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William
Morris and Edward Burne-Jones.
Visit Keble College:
Contrasting strongly with many of the older colleges, Keble (founded 1870) is
every bit as grand, but strikingly different with its neo-Gothic red brick
buildings, designed by William Butterfield.
Watch a play in
Ancient Greek: The Oxford Greek Play has a tradition going back over130
years (you can read my post on the history of the Cambridge Greek Play here).
The next production will be in Autumn 2014 at the Oxford Playhouse (and don’t
worry, there are surtitles!).
Take a peek in Max
Beerbohm’s room: Essayist, theatre critic and parodist Max Beerbohm (also
known for his Oxford-based novel Zuleika
Dobson (1911)) was at Merton College in the 1890s. A small set of rooms
appended to the college’s Old Library now hold many of his satirical drawings
and other items of interest.
Do you know of any other top spots for Victorianists among
the dreaming spires? Let me know here, on Facebook or by tweeting
@SVictorianist!
"the pre-Raphaelite murals in the Union"
ReplyDelete"Take a peek in Max Beerbohm’s room"
and a link between them:
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/mb/dgrcircle4.html
Great link! Thank you :)
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