Competition | 10 April 2010

In Competition 2641 you were invited to submit an adaptation by W.S. Gilbert of a scene or a soliloquy from Shakespeare.

It is quite a challenge to match Gilbert’s wit and metrical mastery, but that did not put you off — this was an extremely popular competition. The entry was more than twice the usual size and of a stellar standard, so honourable mentions all round. G.M. Davis, Frank Osen and Penelope Mackie came especially close to making the final cut. Long Gilbertian lines mean that space is short, so I’ll step aside for the winners, printed below, who get £30. The bonus fiver is Bill Greenwell’s.

If she had died next Friday I’d have had the time
    to cherish her
But monarchs grow laconic when a consort is a
    perisher:
I could have sung a requiem, rhetorical, imperial.
Instead it’s immaterial to sound a note funereal.
 
I’m bound to find tomorrow and tomorrow and
    tomorrow dull
For thinking of the future is unutterably sorrowful —
The ticking of the minutes in particular’s despica-
    ble.