High School Poetry

. In line with its mission to preserve humankind’s artistic traditions, the Society of Classical Poets is featuring the best of artwork submitted recently by high school students. This artwork uses a relatively more traditional aesthetic in an effective way. Note that none of the below featured works utilized artificial...

. First Place ($200 Prize) "The Shepherd God" Jane Schulert, 11th grade student at Redeemer Classical School in Indiana . Second Place "To Speak Unique" Caroline Chen, 14-year-old in Irvine, California . The following Third and Fourth Place winners and Honorable Mentions have been published here. . Third Place "Splash...

. In line with its mission to preserve humankind's artistic traditions, the Society of Classical Poets is featuring the best of artwork submitted recently by high school students. This artwork uses a relatively more traditional aesthetic in an effective way. Note that none of the below featured works utilized artificial...

. The Shepherd God On Autumn eves when solipsistic stars__Peer down on bloody, towering oaksWhose gnarled, twisted branches create bars__Encaging man in Fortune’s spokes,When groaning wind rustles through sloping eaves__To make one wonder why she grieves Despair parades these things before my eyes__Dungeoning the world with gloom,Obscuring heaven’s vivifying skies__To...

. To Speak Unique From youth we have been urged to stay unique. For boxed-in meetings, we must always be The ones outside the box, must always speak On obscure points. The price of novelty? Discussing common issues we all face, Only to hear the boos, the jeers, the sneers...

. The Last Petal In a garden old and wise, Where blooms and seasons intertwine, A rose stood tall against the skies, Its petals bright, its heart divine. But time, unseen, began to stir, A single petal loosed its hold, And with it fell a whispered word, A story ending,...

. “Thou, in our wonder and astonishment, Hast built thyself a livelong monument.” —John Milton, “On Shakespeare” First Prize: $200. Publication in the Society's website and The Society of Classical Poets Journal. . Submission Fee: $5 (The fee comes with a free subscription to our monthly e-Newsletter.) . Submit: One...

. First Place ($200 Prize) "A Star" John Freeborn, Logos Online School, 12th grade student in Concordia, Kansas. . Second Place "Child's Laughter" Jane Schulert, 10th grade student at Redeemer Classical School in Indiana. “Petrarchan Sonnet for a Spring Day” Jane Schulert, 10th grade student at Redeemer Classical School in...

. A Star O silent sphere of silver-soft-spun light,Thou crystal pearl strung on an airy veilSuffusing bright celestial delightIn snowy glory o'er thy starry trail:The bridal necklace of the night inflameWith purer ray, whose brighter progenyUnveils her blushing face, unmarred by shame,With vestal grace’s immortality---Or so at first you seemed...

. Child's Laughter It bubbles forth from deep inside his soul; Joy twinkles brightly through his youthful eyes, For any pain he knows, his laugh defies: This shattered world has briefly been made whole. It rings out clearer than choir bells toll, And sings God’s promise out to hopeless lives....

. But the great Master said, “I see No best in kind, but in degree; I gave a various gift to each, To charm, to strengthen, and to teach.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Singers” First Prize: $200. Publication in the Society's website and The Society of Classical Poets Journal. ....

. Sonnet When sitting on a swing my cheeks were chilled, I gazed and saw the dawn, a new spring day. I knew those colors soon would fade away, But for a moment, time had slowed and stilled. The sky was cloudless, clear, and it was filled With purples, reds,...

. First Place ($200 Prize) Christiana Thomas, homeschooled 12th grade student in Oregon. "Worth Disguised" . Second Place Laurel Aronian, 10th grade student at St. Luke’s School in Connecticut. "The Fluctuations of Modernity and Antiquity" Claire He, 11th grade student at Carmel High School, Indiana. “For the French Revolution” ....

. Worth Disguised The hammer lifts, the anvil rings, The room with screaming noises brings __A torture, here inflicted. The bellows pump, the fire smokes, A prodding chisel pries and pokes. __This trial seems unscripted. The flames blaze hot, the subject melts, No pain like this has e’er been felt...

. For the French Revolution Oh, this shall tell the tale of France’s past: the revolution brought in ‘eighty nine, when Frenchmen took a stand and rose, amassed, against the king from ocean to the Rhine. Before its start existed three estates: the first, the clergy; next, nobility; and third,...

. The Fluctuations of Modernity and Antiquity a pantoum __Something is ahead, A solemn note on open sky, __It rises from the dead, A whizzing plane of time gone by. A solemn note on open sky, Reminds me of the shopping mall, A whizzing plain of time gone by, A...

. Serious Poetry Serious poetry, somber and grim; Dashing, descriptive, with narrative flair. Formal and versified; Rhythmic and dignified; Romance and rhetoric; ribald and prim. Taking you places while curled in your chair. Serious poetry, rhyming each line. Sonnets, rondeaus, villanelles, triolets. Explosive hand-grenades; Sharp-witted razor blades. Dangerous, edgy, designed...

. “Yet, do thy worst old Time; despite thy wrong, My love shall in my verse ever live young.” —William Shakespeare, Sonnet XIX First Prize: $200. Publication in the Society's website and The Society of Classical Poets Journal. . Submission Fee: $5 (The fee comes with a free subscription to...

. Requiem for Eurydice The sunlight dims before my eyes, __My fingertips lose yours, And as my whispered farewell flies, __The last crescendo soars. Then one breath hovers, trembles, dies— __The audience all roars. . . Mary Virginia Vietor is a high school senior from Phoenix, Arizona. She enjoys playing...

Judges Angela Alaimo O’Donnell James Sale . OVERALL WINNER . Papa’s Commedia by Nicholas Walz That was hellish—the hulking chopper plunging Through the top: the battered fuselage yawed, Dipped, and dove, while like a lunging weed-eater, The stuttering, feckless blade chawed the trees. There’s no war, nor downed helicopter now....

. First Place ($200 Prize) Alex Rubstein, 12th grade, homeschooled, Canton Aargau, Switzerland "Civis Romanus Sum" . Second Place Ellie Strano, 9th grade student homeschooled in Lexington, Massachusetts. “The View from Space” Hannah Yee, 9th grade student homeschooled in Massachusetts. “Sonnet 1 (In Theory, Real)” . Third Place A.S. Chuba,...

. Starbucks Villanelle Will someone call an order for Elaine? I have a bunch of stuff I need to do. The wait today is driving me insane. This one dude wants a pinch of sugar cane. I can’t believe he’s holding up the queue Will someone call an order for...

. Civis Romanus Sum (I am a Roman citizen) As Paul stood bound and for the whip outstretched, He said to the centurion beside, “‘Tis lawful here for you to flog a wretch, A Roman citizen and not yet tried?” The mere centurion on hearing went And to the tribune...

. The View from Space My helmet gone, I float among the stars As weightless as my lungs deprived of air Asphyxiating slowly, I am far From all I love and anyone who cares. The stars are dead already: cold and hot, Like burning funeral torches in the sky Their...

. Poppy A vase of poppies on the table there, Twelve years have past, all white is now her hair. A shadow running up the path she sees, Her son has come! Her end to miseries. Twelve years have past all white is now her hair. She missed him much,...

. Sonnet 1 (In Theory, Real) Are dreams confined to stars or stars to dreams? Both full of mysteries and seldom clear, Restrained, yet free to dance in vivid streams Of consciousness, of life and fire and fear, For isn’t that how all these are perceived? Compelling to the science...

. after the Epoch Times series' How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling the World History’s tide brought us forth to this day, A dark, sullen mist hanging low on display, The Communist Specter’s tail shriveled and feeble, Yet tight is its desperate grip on our people. A kingdom once...

“Select, all ye who write, a subject fit, A subject not too mighty for your wit! Before you lay your shoulders to the wheel, Weigh well their strength, and all their weakness feel!” —Horace (65-8 B.C.) First Prize: $200. Publication in the Society's website and The Society of Classical Poets...

. Grain If the future were a famine And tomorrow were a blight, Would we close our eyes today in Light of Future’s tragic sight? If the future were a famine And eternity, disease, Would we leave our fields and flocks to Wither, living lives of ease? If the future...

. Beneath the starry firmament so dark There lies tonight an old, forgotten tree Whose bark is peeling, wretched, cold and stark And has not heard since auld youth’s melody. The crooked, blackened branches send a plea To heaven’s glowing mercies and respite For passersby mock its antiquity Unknowing of...

. A coat of luminescent snow Descended on my patch of grass, And for a moment all its glow Inflamed my eyes like burnished brass. And in a moment it had gone, But not withdrawn; it nimbly turned Into a floodplain on my lawn, A flood of slushing drops concerned...

. Spacious spans the starlit sky; Silver shines its light; Vast the veil, Pearly-pale, Drawn o’er the dusky night; Silently the star-strewn brooks Through flow’ry meadows flow; Glitt’ring gleams On silver streams With crystal glory, glow; Whisp’ring breathes the whirling wind O’er the grasses gray; Deep in the dell The...

. Behold the father of this infant land, Conductor of our daunting foe’s defeat, Now warmly laureled for his noble stand Through which our liberty was made complete. Yet Washington the praise did humbly hear, For he had seen the suff’ring and the strain— No pay, scant food, harsh cold,...

. Humility Lo, I have seen the Muses plain. What need Have I to go on living?—’Twas in Rome: I touched the flesh (it was a holy deed) That Michelangelo shaped out of stone. O what a great and glorious legacy The Ancients left us!—beautiful and rare. But look at...

  Perfectionist Inclined Maligned by self-encasing brine, defined By certainty's demise, self-image lies Within a shrine. Perfectionist inclined, I crouch transfixed in infinite surmise: Confined by shell, by husk, cocoon intact, Unshattered yet, afraid to fall, afraid To try to fall, while each and every act Desires a release from...

  "Poetry ... is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular." —Aristotle (384-322 BC), Poetics First Prize: $100. Publication in the Society's website and Journal.   Submission Fee: $5 (The fee comes with a free subscription to our...

Thank you to every one who participated! The quality of the high school poems submitted this year was stunning.    First Place ($100 Prize): Luke Hahn, twelfth grade, homeschooled in Waupun, Wisconsin "Victus" "To a Murdered World" Second Place: Erin Jeon, tenth grade, University High School, Irvine, California "Twilight" Second...

Victus a response to William Ernest Henley’s poem “Invictus,” from which the first two lines of the final stanza are taken. Dry chatter of dry souls dies out, Beleaguered by the eastern wind, When this world’s chaff is blown about: The chaff of every soul that sinned. Their tongues grow...

  A Letter to Sir Grammar Dear Sir Grammar: With all kindness and courtesy, may I request, A new package of words, freshly made, For, truly, it seems I have used them all up, And my writing has near been betrayed. To start with, I shall need a splatter of...

  The sun sinks deep into the hill Behind the town that perches still. An amber fog prowls through the street Of cobbled stone and stonewashed chill. Dark navy night skies come compete With primrose twilight in retreat. The fog’s her shroud, her wedding veil, For wedding nightfall in defeat....