A Warning: You never know.

Poetry can leave lasting marks long after the author is dead. I suggest that you be very careful when dealing with people who have pretensions of being a writer. It is possible that they will not only get in the last word, but that word may last many years after both they and you are signing in the choir eternal.

A case if point would be Dr. John Fell. In 1680 he was the dean and the head of Christ Church in Oxford. He had a reputation for being very tough and a hard taskmaster. A young student got in trouble and was sent down from the college. While this student, Tom Brown, went on to write several now semi-forgotten books he also wrote a verse that made Dr. John a famous nursery rhyme.

There is a statue of Dr. Fell, which is over the portico between Tom Quad and Peck Hall. So after almost 400 years Dr. Fell is remembered as a tough unlikable Dean, a statue and a child’s nursery rhyme.

My advice to you is be very careful…you never know.


I do not love thee, Dr. Fell
The reasons why I cannot tell;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not love thee, Dr. Fell.