Title:"College Rules," Poem by Lucius J. Polk, [1821]: Electronic
Edition.
Author: Polk, Lucius Junius, 1808-1869
Editor: Erika Lindemann
Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the
electronic publication of this title.
Text transcribed by
Erika Lindemann
Images scanned by
Mara E. Dabrishus
Text encoded by
Elizabeth S. Wright
First Edition,
2005
Size of electronic edition: ca. 9K
Publisher: The University Library, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2005
The electronic edition is a part of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American
South.
Languages used in the text:
English
Revision history:
2005-05-09, Elizabeth S. Wright finished TEI/XML encoding
Part of a series:
This transcribed document is part of a digital collection, titled True and Candid
Compositions: The Lives and Writings of Antebellum Students in North
Carolina
written by
Lindemann, Erika
Source(s):
Title of collection: Polk and Yeatman Family Papers (#606), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Title of document: "College Rules," Poem by Lucius J. Polk, [1821]
Author: Lucius J. Polk
Description: 2 pages, 2 page images
Note:
Call number 606 (Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill)
Topics covered: Education/UNC Student Life Examples of Student Writing/Fiction, Poetry, Character Sketches
Editorial practices The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 5 of
the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Transcript of the handwritten poem. Original is in the Southern
Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved. DocSouth staff created a 600 dpi uncompressed TIFF file for each image. The TIFF images were then saved as JPEG images at 100 dpi for web access. Page images can be viewed and compared in parallel with the
text. Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the
trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line. Letters, words and passages marked as deleted or added in originals
have been encoded accordingly. All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed
as entity references. All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as ". All single right and left quotation marks are encoded as '. All em dashes are encoded as —. Indentation in lines has not been preserved.
For more information about transcription and other editorial decisions,
see Dr. Erika Lindemann's explanation under the section Editorial Practices.
Document Summary
Polk's incomplete poem celebrates freedom from school subjects.
1 Now we are freed from College Rules,
From common place book reason,
From trifling syllogistic schools,
And systems out of season:
Never more we'll have defined,
If matter think or think not,
All the matter we've to mind,
Is see who drinks or drinks not.
2 Metaphysically to trace,
The mind or soul abstracted,
Or prove infinity of space,
By case or cause affected;
Better souls we cant become,
By immeterial thinking—
And as for space we want no room
But just enough to drink in.
3 Plenum, vacuum, minus, plus,
Are learned words and rare too,
Those terms our tutors may discuss,
And those who please may hear too,
A plenum in our wine we show,
Page 30
With plus and plus behind, Sir.
And when our cash is minus low,
A vacuum soon we find, Sir.
4
Copernicus
that learned sage,
Dane
Tycho's
error proving.
1. Polk and Yeatman Papers, SHC. The poem is incomplete, breaking
off two lines into the fourth stanza. "College Rules" appears on
pages 29 and 30 of
Polk's notebook, immediately following his notes on
Grey'sMemoria Technica.
2. This word and the initials below it appear in a color of ink
different from that in which the poem was written.