Ok...Ya want literal. The December challenge is a sonnet of the Shakespearean (abab cdcd efef followed by a volta and a heroic couplet;a Spenserian(abab bcbc cdcd plus volta and a heroic couplet; or a Petrachian sonnet(aba bcb cdc ded a volta and heroic couplet) All poems should be in iambic pentemeter(five feet of unstessed then a stressed syllable.)I would like to suggest the following contest be judged by Tresamie and run between now and January 1. Or any poems of a sonnet form (14 lines with a change in focus in the middle ending in a couplet where the meter is variable which I will judge. I have tried not to be literal because I've seen the reasons that formal poetry is boring. I see forms as a guide, not as a law. But you decide which direction you want to go.

Thanks for the nomination, but if I had wanted to run a challenge, I would simply have run one. I would never presume to attempt to step into the middle of someone else's area of interest. Tjames, if you are not capable of judging a challenge yourself, you could do one of several things, none of which would include simply pushing it off onto someone else. You could simply not propose a new challenge. You could request that someone else take over due to some emergency situation. You could state that the person that won the previous challenge introduce the next challenge. I guess you are stuck with this one unless you leave it up to the members to vote...like every other contest in Renderosity! May I suggest that you publish your criteria for judging poems in some coherent form in the library so that in the future 'judges' can avail themselves of it. Meanwhile, for those members who might be interested in tjames challenge, and need more information, here is a list of websites: THE SONNET: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/sonnet.html http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/form/sonnet.htm http://www.everypoet.com/poetry/poetry_forums/Forum27/HTML/000044.html http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/shakesonnets/form.html http://mimi.essortment.com/sonnetlyricwha_rufa.htm http://www.ils.unc.edu/~beaud/inls181/history.htmhttp://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/sonnet.html http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/form/sonnet.htm http://www.everypoet.com/poetry/poetry_forums/Forum27/HTML/000044.html http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/shakesonnets/form.html http://mimi.essortment.com/sonnetlyricwha_rufa.htm http://www.ils.unc.edu/~beaud/inls181/history.html METER http://nv.essortment.com/metricalfoot_rxjm.htm http://litera1no4.tripod.com/meter_frame.html http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/append/axf.html http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~greebie/Criticism/metre.html GENERAL INFORMATION ON POETRY http://www.shadowpoetry.com/handbook/a.html glossary http://www.atsweb.neu.edu/uc/s.cassavant/Poetry.html good short reference http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903237.html

Thanks, but it was an offer not a necessity I'll do fine. I was volunteered to do this and I picked up the ball fully realizing responsibility has its light and dark side. Follow the model if you can friends send your swing to the poetry challenge V thread by 1700 est Jan 1, 2003 and we'll give it a royal here's the new deal...classic form strictly iambic pentameter gets 2 pts for form. Variable meter gets 1 point. This is a classic challenge I will look variances up in my guide, if I see it I'll be generous. Let's make the laureate square (yet unseen) a valuable piece of real estate.

What guide are you looking variances up in, please?

Lewis Turco, The Book of Form: A Handbook of Poetics 3ed University Press 2000 I also use the Princeton Handbook of poetry and poetics, but have to go to the library because if I bought another book I would die a quick and painful death.

Attached Link: http://www.utm.edu/departments/english/everett/sonnet.htm

From A Guide to the Sonnet The Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet, named after Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), the Italian poet, was introduced into English poetry in the early 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542). Its fourteen lines break into an octave (or octet), which usually rhymes abbaabba, but which may sometimes be abbacddc or even (rarely) abababab... OK, forgive me for sounding stupid, but just how does this octave (being 8) fit into a 14 line poem? Later they give an example of an English sonnet and it, mercifully, breaks down into a rhyme of abab cdcd efef gg, which conveniently adds up nicely to 14. Just how does one end up with 14 lines when writing an Italian sonnet? Just curious, since it did not make any sense to me. I'm trying to use these challenges as learning exercises. :-) jon

8 for one part 4 for the volta (the turn on the starting theme and a concluding couplet. The 8 line intro plus the 6 line ending comprise the body. Different rhyming schemes are possible when setting one against the other the ababab would be alternating rhyme abba bccb cddc ee is an example of the complete body 14lines. Please see what I wrote to Cal after she posted her entry on the entry thread. Some sonnet forms try abab cdcd abcd ee that'll work. How about abba bccb cdcd ee variances...don't ya love variances from rules cut in stone?