For the latest challenge you were invited to provide a sonnet with the following end rhymes (taken from Milton’s Sonnet 20, ‘Lawrence of virtuous father virtuous son’): son, mire, fire, won, run, re-inspire, attire, spun, choice, rise, voice, air, spare, unwise.
Milton was the most political of poets, and many of you followed his lead.
Elsewhere, Sergey Trukhtanov and Joe Houlihan submitted fine homages to Conan-Doyle, and David Shields, Martin Elster, Jenny Hill and Tim Raikes also stood out. Props to clever John O’Byrne, who made his entry using first lines of Shakespeare sonnets (changing the final word to fit the brief).
The winners, printed below, are rewarded with £20 each.
Frank McDonald Milton! you should be called the Muse’s son, For next to you most poets are in the mire. With your lost paradise you lit a fire; What fame from that almighty loss you won! And now today, when your life’s course has run, Those rhyming words you chose may re-inspire As I attempt to give them new attire, Making fresh garments from the threads you spun.
Blind as I am to you, deprived of choice, I hope your shade will let my lyrics rise To heights Miltonic, just as if your voice Were free to whisper counsel through the air.
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