The volume opens with 'In a College Garden,' a dialogue in archaic English between Senex and Turtur, where the speaker laments lost companions and awaits death. The language—'Saye, cushat, callynge from the brake'—deliberately echoes medieval verse, setting a solemn, retrospective tone. Yet this is immediately undercut by the next poem, 'The Splendid Spur,' which shifts to a brisk, aphoristic style: 'Only the heel / Of splendid steel / Shall stand secure on sliding fate.' The contrast between these opening pieces establishes a central tension in the collection between melancholy reflection and energetic, worldly counsel.

Archaic Diction and Pastoral Mourning

The first poem, 'In a College Garden,' employs a sustained archaic register—'cushat,' 'gossyp,' 'eremyte'—and a dialogue form reminiscent of medieval dream visions. The Senex figure, forgotten by Time, calls out to three ghostly faces (Harrye, Tom, Dicke) and resolves to let his gown become a spider's vest. This poem's slow, repetitive structure and lamenting tone contrast sharply with the collection's later parodies. The archaic language is not merely decorative; it creates a sense of distance and loss, as if the speaker is already a relic. Quiller-Couch uses this voice sparingly, reserving it for moments of genuine pathos before pivoting to lighter modes.

Parodic Epistles and Campus Satire

The longest excerpt, 'A Letter,' parodies the style of Winthrop Mackworth Praed, adopting a breezy, conversational tone: 'Dear Kitty, at length the term's ending; I'm in for my Schools in a week.' The poem catalogues Oxford rituals—Commemoration, the Sheldonian, Eights Week—with a knowing, affectionate mockery. The speaker, a scholar named Algernon Dexter, pleads with his cousin to visit, weaving in excuses about croup, lumbago, and a drunken organist. The verse form (alternating rhyme, tetrameter) is handled with ease, and the humor depends on precise social observation: 'You shall flirt with a Proctor, a Warden / Shall run for your shawl and your fan.' This piece demonstrates Quiller-Couch's skill at mimicking a specific poetic voice while infusing it with contemporary Oxford detail.

Shifts in Tone and Metrical Play

Throughout the collection, Quiller-Couch moves between solemnity and levity, often within a single poem. 'The Splendid Spur' begins with a reflection on gold's impermanence—'Not on the neck of prince or hound'—but closes with a call to action: 'Trust in thyself, —then spur amain.' The meter shifts from iambic tetrameter to a shorter, emphatic line ('Only the heel / Of splendid steel') that mimics a spur's strike. In 'A Letter,' the same poet who wrote 'In a College Garden' deploys colloquial contractions ('I'm,' 'you'll') and parenthetical asides ('Are 'hems' wearing?'). This range suggests a deliberate performance of poetic identities, from medievalist to modern wit, rather than a single authorial voice.

Readers attentive to shifts in register will find that Quiller-Couch uses parody not merely for humor but as a lens on poetic convention. The archaic poems and the Praed imitation are both exercises in voice, and the collection rewards those who compare how each poem handles its chosen form. The brevity of the volume (under 11,000 words) invites rereading, especially to trace how the poet modulates from the garden's lament to the letter's flirtatious plea.