Poetica Victorian is proud to announce that it will be hosting a new contest designated for all the upcoming issues of the journal. This contest is actually a series of contests based off of the Victorian poets. The contest series is titled: Victorian Poets: A New Legacy. Each issue will feature one poem (by the winner of the contest), which mimics the poem of a selected Victorian poet (Tennyson, etc...). Basically, the contestant must choose one poem from the chosen Victorian poet, use the title of that poem, and write an entirely new one in the same general style.
For example:
Chartless
I went out to find her
my beloved, the beautiful Madame Letree
but love knows no charter
so no chart to her heart was drawn for me
Although I searched and searched
I never found my love
I may never find her on this earth
yet certain am I I'll see her in heaven above
Since this poem has eight lines, and follows the pattern of abab rhyme scheme in the first stanza, then an abcb pattern in the second stanza, the poet must write the poem in the same rhyme scheme, with the same style, and the same theme, based off of the title (chartless is a broad theme so the contestant can take this theme in many different ways). As in the poem above (pardon us for its not being too good, we did make it up on the spot) there is the same rhyme scheme and the theme is chartless (no charter to make a map to find love shows an idea of being chartless).
Head over to the contests section of the website to view this issue's chosen poet for the contest, submission guidelines, prizes, deadlines, and requirements for this contest.
