Stephen Fry is a fan of the villanelle — it was what inspired him to write his how-to book for poets, The Ode Less Travelled. And so are you, if the response to a recent call for autumn villanelles is anything to go by.
Here is the poet Stanley J Sharpless on the demands of this fiendish form: ‘There are strict rules you cannot misconstrue:/ Five three-line stanzas, capped with a quatrain,/ With only two rhymes all the poem through’.
In general, you coped admirably with these technical challenges. D.A. Prince, Mike Morrison and Brian Allgar were especially impressive and narrowly missed the cut. A round of applause for the winners below, who take £30 each.
Frank McDonald Autumn has come and summer dreams are dead And though she compensates with golden trees Beyond her kind deceit death lies ahead.
She wears a smile and moves with gentle tread And yet her tone will change as time decrees; Autumn has come and summer dreams are dead.
Too soon her transient beauty will be shed And withered blooms will disappoint her bees.
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