POETS' CORNER
Sir.-There is a story (which I’m quite prepared to believe) of a lighthearted wit who won a prize in a Poets’ Corner competition run by a local periodical with some lines that were proclaimed as "deep seated and thoughtful," "lyrically inspired," "a triumph of rhymeless metreless verse," and so on, and drew acclamations and paeans and eulogies from the "poseurs" of the neoromantic cult that festered in the locality. He became so revolted with all the adoring sycophants who clustered round that he finally admitted that the prizewinning ode had been compiled by stringing together lines pitchforked completely at random out of: Wisden’s Cricket Annual, Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, an advertisement for toothpaste, the Bible, Mrs. Beeton’s Cookery Book, The Pickwick Papers, Johnson’s Dictionary, an Act of Parliament, a newspaper’s leading article, and a lot more of such matter. Would someone be kind enough to let me into the secret of the code that will provide clues to some of the enigmatical unmetred puzzles that The Listener occasionally publishes?
AREJAY
(Christchurch).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530710.2.12.8
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 730, 10 July 1953, Page 5
Word count
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172POETS' CORNER New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 730, 10 July 1953, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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