Spectator competition winners: marriage proposals in the style of famous writers

In Competition No. 3342 you were invited to submit a proposal of marriage in the style of a famous writer.

The overall standard was high, and entries that impressed and amused include Bob Trewin’s Hemingway, Dorothy Pope’s Larkin and Nicholas Lee’s Conan Doyle. Janine Beacham’s Masefield’s also shone:

I must go down on one knee again, if you’ll wed
me on the fly,

And all I ask is an office do, with no friends or
family by…

The most prizeworthy are printed below and earn £25 each.

Because thou hast not nam’d the Day
Such Task doth fall – to Me
Am I too late? – I cannot wait
For all Eternity

My Heart is nigh to Overflow
A Reservoir – of Love
Must thou eschew Commitment still –
May Push ne’er come – to Shove?

Be thou my Soul’s – Fulfilment
Else am I incomplete
Wherefore thy limp Timidity –
What mak’st thou so effete?

O dire Despair – thou dost not care
One Jot! I’ll seek no Other,
Unwif’d, Unlif’d – I fear I should
Have listen’d to – my Mother

Mike Morrison/Emily Dickinson