Taking Poetic License

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens will award prizes totaling more than $2,000 to poets  — young and old  — who best capture Magnolia as an idyllic “Garden of Romance.” Magnolia, America’s last large-scale romantic-style garden, is seeking poems that emulate the sensibility of romantic poets, stir the emotions and celebrate the natural world.
The Rev. John Grimké Drayton is credited with adopting a romantic style of gardening at Magnolia after visiting Europe in the 1800s as the Romantic Movement swept Europe and America. In addition to garden design, the Romantic Movement touched many aspects of European and American society and inspired poetry.
The poems for the contest should match the style of poets William Wordsworth, Ashley Tennyson, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. A Wordsworth quote inscribed on a small sign at Magnolia’s entrance reads: “Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.”
Submissions for the third annual Garden of Romance Poetry Contest began on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. March 31 is the deadline to enter. Winners will be announced in April. Submit entries at www.magnoliaplantation.com.
In the adult division, judges will award $500 for first place, $300 for second place, $200 for third place, and $50 to five poets in the honorable mention category. A poem should not exceed 30 lines. Judges will only consider poems in the adult division that follow the romantic style and have the gardens at Magnolia as its theme.
In the young adult division  — ages 12 to 17 — the judges will award an iPad for first place, $200 for second place, $100 for third place, and an annual family membership to Magnolia to five poets in the honorable mention category. Poems in the young adult division can follow any style and must have the gardens at Magnolia as its theme.
Last year, more than 120 poems were submitted. Stacy Pratt, an assistant professor of English at Jefferson State University of New York in Watertown, won the $500 first place prize in the adult division with “A Soldier’s Wife at Magnolia.” Lauren Koch, a student at Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville, Ind., won first-place prize in the youth division with “At the Garden of Magnolia” and won an iPad.
The deadline for the Garden of Romance Poetry Contest is March 31. Magnolia reserves the right to publish the winning poems and a selection of the entries. To Enter visit www.magnoliaplantation.com/garden_of_romance_poetry_contest.html.