Announcing HSLDA's 2006 Poetry Contest for Homeschoolers

2006 Poetry Contest Begins!

HSLDA is very excited to be holding our second annual poetry contest. Along with the art and essay contests, the poetry contest offers an opportunity to reward excellence. Although poetry, and especially poetic form, can seem intimidating, we encourage you to try it. In addition to the enjoyment of composition, there is the educational and cultural benefit that comes with studying poetry closely. Writing poetry also increases your appreciation as you read the great poets.

Entrant Qualifications:

• Category 1: HSLDA members who are at least 9 but will not be 14 as of April 1, 2006.
• Category 2: HSLDA members who are at least 14 but will not be 19 as of April 1, 2006.
• Family members of Home School Legal Defense Association employees, the Home School Foundation employees, or Patrick Henry College staff or faculty are not eligible to participate.

Format and Submission:

• Poems must be completely the work of the student entering the contest. No involvement or assistance of other parties, including but not limited to brainstorming, editing, or proof reading, is permissible.
• The poems should be typed, in at least 12 point font, and single spaced with a double space between stanzas.
• Each poem must have a title.
• Each author may enter up to five poems. Each poem requires a separate entry fee. Only one poem per page.
• The student's phone number should appear at the top of each page.
• The student's full name, date of birth, HSLDA membership number, and contact information, including their phone number should be on a separate sheet of paper.
• Each entrant should use a separate envelope, i.e. do not send entries from members of the same family in a single envelope.
• Poems should be mailed to:
  HSLDA
  Attn: Poetry Contest
  P.O. Box 3000
  Purcellville, VA 20134-9000
  
• Entries must be postmarked on or before April 15, 2006. Only entries sent to the above address will qualify for the contest.

Fee:
The entry fee is $15 per poem. For Home School Legal Defense Association member families, the entry fee is $10 per poem. The check should be made payable to "HSLDA" with a note of "Poetry Contest" in the memo line. Please do not enclose cash.

Prizes:
Category 1
First: $150
Second: $100
Third: $50
Honorary Mention (two): $25

Category 2
First: $200
Second: $150
Third: $100
Honorary Mention (two): $50

Forms:

Terza Rima is a traditional form of poetry with series of tercets (grouping of three lines) with interlocking rhymes which give a strong feel of continuity. They are formed in the pattern aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc. Each line labeled B rhymes with other B lines, each line labeled C rhymes with C lines, and so on.

Dante, the Italian author of the Inferno, is credited for inventing this poetic form. It is though to reflect the unity and the threesome of the Trinity. Other poets such as Milton, Shelley, and Byron also employed this form.

Submitted poems in this category must be 15 lines: 5 tercets of three lines each. You may write anything with the theme given—it is broad enough to give students a wide range of possible topics.

Other poems to study:
Percy Bysshe Shelley: The Triumph of Life
Robert Frost: Acquainted with the Night
W.H. Auden: The Sea and the Mirror

The English sonnet is a 14-line poem; each line is written in iambic pentameter. Pentameter means the line has five groupings of rhythmic syllables called feet. In this case the feet are iambic, which means that they are composed of a short syllable and then a long (or emphasized) syllable. So the line is composed of ten syllables and follows this pattern: short long / short long / short long / short long / short long. An example of a line of iambic pentameter is "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield," from Tennyson's Ulysses.

Sonnets are arranged in three quatrains (groups of four lines in which the first and third lines rhyme, and the second and fourth lines rhyme) followed by a final couplet (two rhyming lines). The rhyme scheme, then, is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. Note: A line is not necessarily a complete sentence or clause, and a quatrain is not necessarily only one sentence.

Generally, a sonnet presents a conflict, which is resolved in the final couplet. One way to do this is to have each quatrain present a distinct point of view or a different level of knowledge about the subject, pausing between each, with the final couplet presenting a practical resolution to or a deeper understanding of the subject. Many times, the couplet will use words from the earlier quatrains in order to give a clearer sense of closure.

You may write anything with the theme given—it is broad enough to give students a wide range of possible topics.

Samples of English sonnets are widely available in anthologies, libraries, and the Internet. If you're not sure where to start, here are some good sonnets to start with:

Shakespeare: No. 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
John Milton: On His Blindness
John Keats: Bright Star
John Donne: At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners, Blow
Robert Frost: Putting in the Seed

Note that while following the form is a large part of what gives a poem its beauty, poets will sacrifice exact adherence to the form if it suits their purpose. The poetic decision to do something slightly different for one or two lines is legitimate one, but the pattern of the form should always be discernable.

Judging:

• Poems will be evaluated by a panel of judges appointed by Home School Legal Defense Association.
• Poems will be judged on originality of thought, writing style, and adherence to both the theme and the traditional requirements of the form.
• Results of the contest will be released on Friday, May 19, 2006.

Other Considerations:

By submitting an poem you:

• Grant Home School Legal Defense Association the right to publish all or part of your submission.
• Agree to all rules and the decisions of the judges and sponsors.
• Home School Legal Defense Association is not responsible for any lost, damaged, misdirected, delayed, mutilated, incomplete, illegible, or postage-due entries or mail.
• All profits from this contest will go to the Home School Foundation's Special Needs Children Fund.
• Please write to Whitney Putman with any questions regarding this contest.