Write a Crown of Heroic Sonnets
Poetry Contest
Write a Crown of Heroic Sonnets.
The Crown of heroic sonnets is a sequence of seven heroic sonnets usually addressed to one person. It is concerned with a single theme and each sonnet explores a different aspect of the theme and is linked to the preceding and succeeding sonnets by repeating the final line of the preceding sonnet as its first line and by having its final line be the first line of the succeeding sonnet.
The first line of the first sonnet is repeated as the final line of the final sonnet thereby bringing the sequence to a close.
A Heroic Sonnet is an iambic pentameter based poem that adds a heroic couplet to either two Sicilian octave stanzas or four Sicilian quatrain stanzas. In other words, it's eighteen lines of iambic pentameter broken into three or five parts with the last part being a couplet. The rhyme scheme is a,b,a,b,a,b,a,b - c,d,c,d,c,d,c,d - e,e OR a,b,a,b - c,d,c,d - e,f,e,f - g,h,g,h - i,i.
IAMBIC PENTAMETER is the meter structure with an unstressed syllable following by stressed, 10 syllables per line, 5 metric beats - da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM.
Refer to the example below if unsure.
The higher entry fee is due to the complexity and magnitude of this challenge.
As an example I used my Crown of Heroic Sonnets, "Windmills of Mankind."
WINDMILLS OF MANKIND
I
When I was young, I didn't have a care,
Rebellious and inquisitive I was --
My dreams would always drift where eagles dare,
defying life's conventions and the laws.
Oh, youth! Why do you have to be so short?
You dance your waltz and quickly disappear -
Your golden ships leave daily from your port,
to sail away and never reappear.
But every season has its silver charm --
The trees of life will never stay the same ~
Sometimes we fail to hear a soft alarm,
forewarning us that life is but a game
with secret mechanisms and mystic rules
constricting what we do - and prison bars
are consequence of errors made by fools
for whom there won't be any lucky stars.
"To each their own", the saying goes, so true -
We choose our sky - shall it be black or blue?
II.
We choose our sky - shall it be black or blue?
A million dollar question many skip.
Our choices often bid our dreams adieu,
to live with them may prove a tasteless trip.
It's wise to take a deep breath and reflect
before performing deeds you can't reverse -
And if you don't concede, it may affect
your life, and make it ages of remorse.
But people do not think - a trigger's pulled
in passion's rage - the judge may be quite numb
to all your explanations, she had ruled
that you're to pay a full price; you are dumb
in thinking that your lawyer gets you out.
A system can be oiled sometimes, but you
will not have the rebarbative cop-out,
you're destined to partake the bitter brew.
So many should be punished for their crimes -
Alas, we need to live in better times.
III.
Alas, we need to live in better times -
Utopia has blinded many eyes.
And every day someone commits a crime
that gets unpunished through a million lies.
They manage to escape a hangman's noose
through bribery, corruption and deceit,
through blackmail, vindication and abuse,
They live among us every day and cheat.
There's so much misery and pain out there,
The world is not a perfect place by far -
Life is a serendipity affair,
somehow this planet has become bizarre.
When pain and suffering go hand in hand -
the terror acts, the bombings, children's tears,
they rape and ravish our resplendent land --
How can He let it carry on for years?
Is there a hope for mankind still, I pray?
Oh, well - tomorrow is another day.
IV.
Oh, well - tomorrow is another day.
What will it bring - disaster, war or peace?
When evil's demons are not kept at bay
and hatred's raging lava needs release,
the avalanche occurs - and all's destroyed.
They dig the bodies from the rubble, and
it will take centuries to fill the void
and million workmen to rebuild the land.
There's so much beauty in the world out there!
Resplendent sunsets, musings of the lark ~
The Lord was generous, His loving care
meant to bring glory and disperse the dark.
So why not be content with what He gave?
Why hatred, mad ambition and the wars?
To sickly passions men became enslaved,
inviting havoc to the mortal shores.
Oh, Lord, what is the answer? Pray, be kind!
Do read your Bible - it refines your mind.
V.
Do read your Bible - it refines your mind
from its impurities; the scriptures heal;
If you shall seek the goodness, you will find
there is so much of it out there, for real.
Present your humble true self to the Lord,
show you're sincere and you have pledged your heart -
His loving dedication's your reward,
and from that day, you'll never be apart.
Find joy in simple things - a budding tree,
a crimson rose, the laughter of a child,
in golden seashells and the turquoise sea,
a robin's song and horses of the wild.
Let nature's beauty heal your tortured mind,
let streams of forest brook baptize your soul.
You'll see - your ires will soon be left behind -
You found your purpose and defined your role.
The evil is inside of us, let's heal...
Discovering the Lord would be ideal.
VI.
Discovering the Lord would be ideal -
Repent your sins and cleanse your soul of grime.
Make sure, though, that your penitence is real --
The Lord will always know - his secret chime
would ring untrue and you would fail the test.
Your heart has to be pure, and love its goal;
And with this better you, you will be blessed --
You found yourself and will fulfill your role.
When you've transformed into another you,
your air will be much purer, and the sky
will be the clearest, mesmerizing blue
to match the child-like sparkle in your eyes.
It's like inheriting the Pharaoh's gold -
that lay for many centuries, intact -
a princely ransom for you to behold,
when you and God had made your sacred pact.
Oh, please, let Jesus in your life! Be saved -
You'll have the life and riches that you've craved.
VII.
"You'll have the life and riches that you've craved..."
I woke from my soul searching reverie -
My whole life flew before me, I was saved
and purified by this poetic spree.
I have a vision of a better world
where there will be no wars, nor grief or tears -
A picture so idyllic to behold -
our happy planet for a million years.
Where swans will glide in His celestial lakes -
no suffering again for any man.
He'll save us from committing grave mistakes,
For us, the Lord devised a better plan.
No humans will be killed at sordid wars,
no children will know hunger or abuse,
because He ruled that there would be be no wars,
no mass destruction, famine or misuse.
Such wisdom comes with age, though I declare
when I was young, I didn't have a care.
-written by Eternal Muse
The contest winner will win half of the prize pool which is based on the number of entries. The second and third place winners will each share the remaining prize pool. The prize pool is currently 140.00 member dollars. There are 11 spots still open. If all open spots are used the prize pool will be 360.00 member dollars. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Monday, February 20, 2023.
Full Contest Listing
The Crown of heroic sonnets is a sequence of seven heroic sonnets usually addressed to one person. It is concerned with a single theme and each sonnet explores a different aspect of the theme and is linked to the preceding and succeeding sonnets by repeating the final line of the preceding sonnet as its first line and by having its final line be the first line of the succeeding sonnet.
The first line of the first sonnet is repeated as the final line of the final sonnet thereby bringing the sequence to a close.
A Heroic Sonnet is an iambic pentameter based poem that adds a heroic couplet to either two Sicilian octave stanzas or four Sicilian quatrain stanzas. In other words, it's eighteen lines of iambic pentameter broken into three or five parts with the last part being a couplet. The rhyme scheme is a,b,a,b,a,b,a,b - c,d,c,d,c,d,c,d - e,e OR a,b,a,b - c,d,c,d - e,f,e,f - g,h,g,h - i,i.
IAMBIC PENTAMETER is the meter structure with an unstressed syllable following by stressed, 10 syllables per line, 5 metric beats - da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM.
Refer to the example below if unsure.
The higher entry fee is due to the complexity and magnitude of this challenge.
As an example I used my Crown of Heroic Sonnets, "Windmills of Mankind."
I
When I was young, I didn't have a care,
Rebellious and inquisitive I was --
My dreams would always drift where eagles dare,
defying life's conventions and the laws.
Oh, youth! Why do you have to be so short?
You dance your waltz and quickly disappear -
Your golden ships leave daily from your port,
to sail away and never reappear.
But every season has its silver charm --
The trees of life will never stay the same ~
Sometimes we fail to hear a soft alarm,
forewarning us that life is but a game
with secret mechanisms and mystic rules
constricting what we do - and prison bars
are consequence of errors made by fools
for whom there won't be any lucky stars.
"To each their own", the saying goes, so true -
We choose our sky - shall it be black or blue?
II.
We choose our sky - shall it be black or blue?
A million dollar question many skip.
Our choices often bid our dreams adieu,
to live with them may prove a tasteless trip.
It's wise to take a deep breath and reflect
before performing deeds you can't reverse -
And if you don't concede, it may affect
your life, and make it ages of remorse.
But people do not think - a trigger's pulled
in passion's rage - the judge may be quite numb
to all your explanations, she had ruled
that you're to pay a full price; you are dumb
in thinking that your lawyer gets you out.
A system can be oiled sometimes, but you
will not have the rebarbative cop-out,
you're destined to partake the bitter brew.
So many should be punished for their crimes -
Alas, we need to live in better times.
III.
Alas, we need to live in better times -
Utopia has blinded many eyes.
And every day someone commits a crime
that gets unpunished through a million lies.
They manage to escape a hangman's noose
through bribery, corruption and deceit,
through blackmail, vindication and abuse,
They live among us every day and cheat.
There's so much misery and pain out there,
The world is not a perfect place by far -
Life is a serendipity affair,
somehow this planet has become bizarre.
When pain and suffering go hand in hand -
the terror acts, the bombings, children's tears,
they rape and ravish our resplendent land --
How can He let it carry on for years?
Is there a hope for mankind still, I pray?
Oh, well - tomorrow is another day.
IV.
Oh, well - tomorrow is another day.
What will it bring - disaster, war or peace?
When evil's demons are not kept at bay
and hatred's raging lava needs release,
the avalanche occurs - and all's destroyed.
They dig the bodies from the rubble, and
it will take centuries to fill the void
and million workmen to rebuild the land.
There's so much beauty in the world out there!
Resplendent sunsets, musings of the lark ~
The Lord was generous, His loving care
meant to bring glory and disperse the dark.
So why not be content with what He gave?
Why hatred, mad ambition and the wars?
To sickly passions men became enslaved,
inviting havoc to the mortal shores.
Oh, Lord, what is the answer? Pray, be kind!
Do read your Bible - it refines your mind.
V.
Do read your Bible - it refines your mind
from its impurities; the scriptures heal;
If you shall seek the goodness, you will find
there is so much of it out there, for real.
Present your humble true self to the Lord,
show you're sincere and you have pledged your heart -
His loving dedication's your reward,
and from that day, you'll never be apart.
Find joy in simple things - a budding tree,
a crimson rose, the laughter of a child,
in golden seashells and the turquoise sea,
a robin's song and horses of the wild.
Let nature's beauty heal your tortured mind,
let streams of forest brook baptize your soul.
You'll see - your ires will soon be left behind -
You found your purpose and defined your role.
The evil is inside of us, let's heal...
Discovering the Lord would be ideal.
VI.
Discovering the Lord would be ideal -
Repent your sins and cleanse your soul of grime.
Make sure, though, that your penitence is real --
The Lord will always know - his secret chime
would ring untrue and you would fail the test.
Your heart has to be pure, and love its goal;
And with this better you, you will be blessed --
You found yourself and will fulfill your role.
When you've transformed into another you,
your air will be much purer, and the sky
will be the clearest, mesmerizing blue
to match the child-like sparkle in your eyes.
It's like inheriting the Pharaoh's gold -
that lay for many centuries, intact -
a princely ransom for you to behold,
when you and God had made your sacred pact.
Oh, please, let Jesus in your life! Be saved -
You'll have the life and riches that you've craved.
VII.
"You'll have the life and riches that you've craved..."
I woke from my soul searching reverie -
My whole life flew before me, I was saved
and purified by this poetic spree.
I have a vision of a better world
where there will be no wars, nor grief or tears -
A picture so idyllic to behold -
our happy planet for a million years.
Where swans will glide in His celestial lakes -
no suffering again for any man.
He'll save us from committing grave mistakes,
For us, the Lord devised a better plan.
No humans will be killed at sordid wars,
no children will know hunger or abuse,
because He ruled that there would be be no wars,
no mass destruction, famine or misuse.
Such wisdom comes with age, though I declare
when I was young, I didn't have a care.
-written by Eternal Muse
The contest winner will win half of the prize pool which is based on the number of entries. The second and third place winners will each share the remaining prize pool. The prize pool is currently 140.00 member dollars. There are 11 spots still open. If all open spots are used the prize pool will be 360.00 member dollars. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Monday, February 20, 2023.
