19 JULY 1968, Page 31

No. 510: Octet

COMPETITION

Competitors are invited to compose an eight-line poem or stanza of a poem on any one of the subjects given below, using four of the following five pairs of words as end-rhymes. The rhymes are taken from a well-known poem. The rhyme scheme is optional.

The words: plain, swain; paid, delayed; shade, surveyed; tired, inspired; renown, down. The subjects: Floods in the west; a busman on

productivity; song of the hippy peasant.

In addition to the usual prizes a special prize of one guinea will be awarded to the first entry opened that correctly identifies the poem from which the rhymes were chosen. Entries, marked 'Competition No. 510,' must be in by 29 July.