Landor Amended

A prize of £5 was offered for an alternative version (not a.. parody) of the first two lines of Landor's famous quatrain

I strove with none; for none was worth my strife; Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art; I warmed both hands before the fire of life;

It sinks, and I am ready to depart.

An enormons entry failed to yield any- thing, obviously right. Many offerings merely reproduced in paraphrase the arro- gance of Landor's first line and the flatness of his second; others were disqualified by ingenious conceits that belonged to a dif- ferent sort of poem; others, excellent in themselves, did not 'lead into the last two lines with, any appearance of inevitability. Two of the best came from Willy Tadpole and Allan M. Laing, but maddeningly (and I suspect deliberately) they ignored the terms of the competition, submitting alter- natives for the wrong pair of verses. One patent difficulty was the limited number of fruitful rhymes for 'life'; with some notable exceptions those who played safe and stuck to 'strife' fared better than the • experi- menters with 'knife,' wife,"fife,' and 'rife.'

Competitors were not of course tied to writing in the character of the poet's 'old philosopher.' Three of the most engaging entries of the lighter-hearted sort came from E. A. Payne, Sir W. M. Calder, and Naso—the last a merciless but not quite unjust appraisal of Landor's record. But the prizes are awarded, diffidently, to those who followed the party line. £2 goes (in spite of a small mental reservation about the nature of the instrument used by Atropos) to Dennis M. McDonnell and £1 10s. each to Adrienne Gascoigne for an inspired quotation, and W. K. Holmes for a simple and sincere version.

PRIZES

(DENNIS M. MCDONNELL)

Come, Atropos, I fear thy, final knife

No more than once I feared young Cupid's dart.

(ADRIENNE GASCOIGNE)

My heart has lived and loved in peace and strife; —'0 world, thou wast the forest to this hart.'

(W. K. HOLMES)

I won by laughter what is lost in strife; I loved mankind and did not hide my heart: COMMENDED

(RUTH CLAY)

My span of days was vigorous with strife, Truth was my weapon: Athens shaped my art.

(3. R. GREENWOOD) With Art for mistress, Nature for a wife, All beauty magnet to my questing heart, (J. AITKEN) I barred the haven of my mind from strife. But Beauty knew the password to my heart

(E. A. PAYNE)

Girls knew my tricks from Adelaide to Fife; I've sailed the seven seas right off the chart;

(SIR W. M. CALDER)

Lais lam senior Much was I loved; was neither maid nor wife; Blemish had none, mole, cicatrice or wart; (NASD)

Friends, teachers, tutors, neighbours, •father, wife—

I strove with all, for strife rejoiced my heart.

(A. D. RITCHIE)

All things are past that caused me fear or strife; The friends are gone to whom I gave mY heart;

(MARGARET H. TAYLOR)

I have had laughter, sorrow, peace and strife; The height, the depths were mine,—the thrill, the dart; (REV. F. C. oul.) Dead is the soul that knows not zest nor strife; Bitter the empty mind, the neutral heart;

(INEZ D. HUKE)

I loved and hated; knew both peace and strife; Embrac'd all rights of body, mind and heart.

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