In Competition No. 3185 you were invited to compose a sonnet called ‘England in 2021’.
The challenge was inspired by Shelley’s political sonnet ‘England in 1819’, in which he paints a scathing picture of a broken country, rotten to the core, and rages against king (‘old, mad, blind, despised, and dying’), aristocracy, parliament, church and the army.
Two hundred years on, the view is not much better but, as in Shelley’s closing couplet, there were some glimmers of hope.
Honourable mentions go to Joe Crocker, Josephine Boyle, Nicholas Whitehead, Frank McDonald, David Shields and Nicholas Hodgson. The best of a varied and excellent bunch are printed below and earn their authors £20 apiece.
The new year breaks and feels already oldAs we mark time on ever-shifting ground:The days and weeks in tedium unfold,Our lives worn flat by this eventless round.And
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