Shakespeare's Birthday Sonnet Contest

Each year, as part of the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series, Folger Shakespeare Library invites students in grades 3 through 12 in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia to submit original sonnets for the annual Shakespeare's Birthday Sonnet Contest. All entries must follow Shakespearean sonnet form: 14 lines of iambic pentameter with an ABAB/CDCD/EFEF/GG rhyme scheme. A judge selects the top sonnet in each of the following categories: grades 3-6, grades 7-9, grades 10-12. Winners in each category receive a full set of William Shakespeare's plays. Runners-up receive a copy of William Shakespeare's sonnets. Winners and runners-up are invited to read their entries at Shakespeare's Birthday Open House each year.

2014 winning entries and runners-up

Winter lament

Zachary Majd, winning entry, grades 3-6

The cool, crisp air swirls round the street today.

Change has come and with it an ageing frown.

The buds of last summer, worn to a fray,

once they were sprouts, springing up from the ground.

Oft times the burden feels too great to bear,

the cost of winter, heavy on a heart.

You wish youth would remain and pause right there

as not to feel the cold pierce like a dart.

But the clocks cannot be turned back nor time

relived nor memories lost, ghosts revived.

And as time closes in doomful bells chime,

trunks grow gnarled, branches gray, success deprived.

Life promises were not what they would seem.

Now spring seems much like an ironic dream.

Storm at Sea

Mia Ellis, runner-up, grades 3-6

The sky is dark and blue and green tonight

and waves are churning round in sea foam green

an ocean storm is coming within sight

and it will be the worst one I have seen

lightning starts to crackle from the dark sky

fog devours sand and water alike

a single seagull flies and gives a cry

the storm at sea is just about to strike

as clouds close in around the shiny moon

and winds are howling through the air in rage

dancing through the waves dancing to no tune

flying like wild birds out of their cage

and as the cloth of ocean starts to fray

I sit at home, so close yet far away.

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Jordan Thompson, winner, grades 7-9

Clear blue water glistening in the sun,

Salty waves crashing on the sandy shore.

At the horizon sea and sky are one,

But life beneath lies at its beauty's core.

Darting rainbows just below the surface,

Fish swimming about the coral at play.

The reef's colors are intertwined like lace,

It's shadows an escape for would be prey.

As you dive deeper, the blue turns to black.

Sharks cruise the ocean hunting for their meal,

Their razor sharp teeth perfect for attack.

Hunger competing only with their zeal.

But hunters are needed for the sea life,

For harmony exists only with strife.

Gallus Victorious

Olivia Henshaw-Black, runner-up, grades 7-9

My hen glows red in her feathery shawl

With long taloned feet below scaly legs.

She primps and she preens while perched on a wall

Then hops off to lay a nest of brown eggs.

She struts and she strolls and utters a "Brwak"

Then catches sight of a scuttling bug.

It quick dives to safety under a rock.

She pulls a worm from the earth with a tug.

A hawk circles above watching my hen

Dreaming of scrumptious chicken for dinner.

One bird remains when I look out again

But it is my hen who is the winner!

Hawk feathers are strewn all over the place.

Victory shines on my hen's beaky face.

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Mary Sorensen, winner, grades 10-12

A smudge of dampened white, then two, then four,

The ivory grows num'rous in the sky.

With every passing hour, slow but sure,

The microscopic angels flying by

Cover each every surface left exposed

With no regard for man's convenience.

The flats turned hills turned mountains, the repose

Of every icy slave, obedient

To will of science, master, piling high

Each silver tower, growing greater yet.

The residents, at first filled with delight,

Now, cold in dark, are worried and upset.

Though with suspicions, never would they know.

Their tiny town be buried deep in snow.

Humanity as an Apple Tree

Dash Yeatts-Lonske, runner-up, grades 10-12

For years we've hacked it, cut it, made it bleed

And now once more, we wrap it in our hands

Composed of all religions, types, and creeds

Which apple is the sweetest in the land?

We throw each in the air to touch the stars

And see five thousand apples strive to soar

Each one is fighting for the right to Mars

And once again devolving into war

Apart they come back hurtling down to earth

Against the ground they bruise and mix and break

Yet even now there's cause for joy and mirth

For in each apple there's a seed that takes

We can unite this apple tree for all

And stop this endless, pointless, bloody brawl.