Competition: Following in the footsteps of Virgil

Spectator literary competition No. 2821 Following in the footsteps of Virgil

This week, in a challenge inspired by Virgil’s Georgics, you are invited to supply a poem that provides instruction or useful information.

The Georgics, a didactic poem that spans four books, is part agricultural manual, part political poem. Although it was published way back in 29 BC, or thereabouts, its lessons can still be applied today: a team of Italian archaeologists recently planted a vineyard using wine-growing techniques prescribed by Virgil.

Please email entries, of up to 16 lines, to lucy@spectator.co.uk by midday on 23 October.

Here are the results of this week’s challenge, in which competitors were invited to merge two literary classics and provide a synopsis of the new title.