In Competition No. 3154 you were invited to supply your own variations on the medieval round ‘Sumer is icumen in’.
This six-part polyphony — the jaunty accompaniment to the ritual sacrifice of Edward Woodwood’s Christian copper in the horrific climax of The Wicker Man — is also known as the Summer Canon and dates from about 1300. Some contend that it contains the oldest example in written English of the word ‘fart’ (‘Bucke uerteth’ can be rendered as ‘the billy goat is farting’) though the correct translation has been the subject of scholarly squabbles.
This was a tricky challenge and you might have looked for inspiration to Ezra Pound, who wrote a well-known parody of the poem entitled ‘Ancient Music’:
Winter is icummen in, Lhude sing Goddamm, Raineth drop and staineth slop. And how the wind doth ramm!
Those that made the cut, in a smallish, somewhat half-hearted but pleasingly varied entry, are printed below and earn £30 each.
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