chair of comparative ambiguity

In the introduction to The Oxford Hysteria of English Poetry, which appears in his book Greatest Hits: His 40 Golden Greats, Adrian Mitchell wrote:

I spent three years at Oxford studying Modern English Literature (500—1815). Allegedly. So I thought I should pass on the fruits of my enhanced brainbox to all and sundry especially the latter. Most of my audience is pretty sundry. It is meant to be spoken by a very old battered poet who has survived from the days when we had pterodactyls instead of critics.

There hasn’t been much time
For poetry since the Twenties
What with leaving the Communist Church
To join the Catholic Party
And explaining why in the C.I.A. Monthly.

Finally I was given the Chair of Comparative Ambiguity
At Armpit University, Java.
It didn’t keep me busy,
But it kept me quiet.
It seemed like poetry had been safely tucked up for the night.