All souls: an excellent name for a November day

or a wealthy Oxford college with a sundial

created by Christopher Wren. T. E. Lawrence

got in; future PM Harold Wilson failed 



the entrance exam, which consisted 

of the candidate’s response to a single word,

such as “censorship,” “chaos,” “comedy,” and “culture.”

One recent year the aspirants were asked whether



the “moral character of an orgy” changes

“when the participants wear Nazi uniforms.”

Also, “Is there anything to be said for astrology?”

“The dice of God are always loaded” (Emerson). Discuss.



Oh, to be an Oxford don tasked with 

formulating questions about relativism,

cultural imperialism, Dark Energy, Dark Matter,

Las Vegas, and the present status of concepts of “the soul”!