KERRY'S Sunday Challenge #4  June 12, 2011 - June 15, 2011

THE FIVE ACT PLAY

The terms of each challenge will be very clearly stated, but the FIRST RULE, which will apply to all the challenges, is that the piece must be written in the week of the challenge. Any older poems that are entered in the contest will not be eligible for an award.

This is week 4 of the challenge and we turn, for inspiration, to a children's novel.

ACT IV

A beloved classic of children's literature, 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett, tells an inspirational tale of transformation and empowerment. Mary Lennox, a sickly and contrary little girl, is orphaned to dim prospects in a gloomy English manor - her only friend is a bed-ridden boy named Colin whose prospects may be dimmer than hers. But when Mary finds the key to a Secret Garden, the magical powers of transformation fall within her reach.

More than anything, the novel explores the alienation of children in the adult world, their quest for enlightenment, their attempts to overcome fear and to see their gardens grow.

"One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands out and throws one's head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one's heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun--which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. One knows it then for a moment or so. And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries. Then sometimes the immense quiet of the dark blue at night with the millions of stars waiting and watching makes one sure; and sometimes a sound of far-off music makes it true; and sometimes a look in someone's eyes."

THE CHALLENGE:

Follow the robin to the locked door in the ivy-clad wall, use the key which only you have found, unlock the door to the secret garden, and enter.

AWARDS:

I would like to state that the badge awards are not given on a first, second, third, runners up basis. They are of equal value, and tokens of my great admiration for the work of POETS, and my deep respect for all who enter their pieces in these challenges.

Kerry O'Connor

South Africa

9 Contestants
9 Submissions
477 Views
Created Jun 11, 2011