Spectator competition winners: acrostic sonnets on The Spectator

The latest competition asked for an acrostic sonnet in which the first letters of each line spell AT THE SPECTATOR. You weren’t obliged to make the theme of your poem this magazine and its contributors but many of you did, to great effect. The tone was mainly affectionate, along the lines of Paul Carpenter’s opening:

Across this social media driven land There stands a bastion of common sense, That often takes a fearless lonely stand Heroic, unafraid to give offence.

But there were a few dissenting voices, Chris O’Carroll for one:

Addison and Steele are not amused. Their lofty mix, ‘morality with wit’, These days finds its proud name sadly misused. High Life and Low Life both play hell with it.

Dorothy Pope, Joseph Houlihan, George Thomson and Paul A. Freeman deserve a special mention for their eye-catching contributions, and the winners, printed below, pocket £25 each. W.J. Webster takes £30.

W.J. Webster A nest of singing birds they may not be (Too individual in the way they speak); Their talents, though, make quite a company, High-class performers writing week on week.