Alfred Denis Godley (1856–1925) was an English classical scholar and author of humorous poems.From 1910 to 1920 he was Public Orator at the University of Oxford, a post that involved composing citations in Latin for the recipients of honorary degrees.One of these was for Thomas Hardy who received an Honorary D. Litt. in 1920, and whose treatment of rural themes Godley compared to Virgil.
He is mainly remembered today for his humorous verse, including macaronic pieces such as The Motor Bus, which playfully mixes Latin declensions with English.
Godley's published works include:
- Verses to Order (1892)
- Aspects of Modern Oxford (1894)
- Socrates and Athenian Society in His Day (1896)
- Lyra Frivola (1899)
- Second Strings (1902)
- Oxford in the Eighteenth Century (1908)
- The Casual Ward (1912)
- Reliquiae A. D. Godley (1926)
He also published translations of Herodotus (1921) and Horace's Odes (1898).
Godley was a first cousin of the Under-Secretary of State for India John Arthur Godley, 1st Baron Kilbracken.