October 2026 packs a lot into thirty-one days for poets — first-book prizes, single-poem contests, translation awards, and a few big travel opportunities all close this month. Below is a curated roundup of poetry contests October 2026 and related calls we verified on official contest or publisher pages. Always double-check guidelines (fees, eligibility, and formatting) before … [Read more...] about Poetry Submission Deadlines October 2026
To (Clear-headed friend, whose joyful scorn), By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Clear-headed friend, whose joyful scorn,Edged with sharp laughter, cuts atwainThe knots that tangle human creeds,The wounding cords that bind and strainThe heart until it bleeds,Ray-fringed eyelids of the mornRoof not a glance so keen as thine:If aught of prophecy be mine,Thou wilt not live in vain. Low-cowering shall the Sophist sit;Falsehood shall bare her plaited … [Read more...] about To (Clear-headed friend, whose joyful scorn), By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
To Victor Hugo, By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Victor in poesy, Victor in romance,Cloud-weaver of phantasmal hopes and fears,French of the French, and lord of human tears;Child-lover; bard whose fame-lit laurels glanceDarkening the wreaths of all that would advance,Beyond our strait, their claim to be thy peers;Weird Titan by thy winter weight of yearsAs yet unbroken, stormy voice of France!Who dost not love our England — … [Read more...] about To Victor Hugo, By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
To Ulysses, By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Ulysses, much-experienced man,Whose eyes have known this globe of ours,Her tribes of men, and trees, and flowers,From Corrientes to Japan, To you that bask below the Line,I soaking here in winter wet—The century’s three strong eights have metTo drag me down to seventy-nineiii.In summer if I reach my day—To you, yet young, who breathe the balmOf summer-winters by the palmAnd … [Read more...] about To Ulysses, By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
To the Rev. F.D. Maurice, By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Come, when no graver cares employ,God-father, come and see your boy:Your presence will be sun in winter,Making the little one leap for joy. For, being of that honest few,Who give the Fiend himself his due,Should eighty-thousand college-councilsThunder 'Anathema,' friend, at you; Should all our churchmen foam in spiteAt you, so careful of the right,Yet one lay-hearth would … [Read more...] about To the Rev. F.D. Maurice, By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
To the Queen (O loyal to the royal in thyself), By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
O loyal to the royal in thyself,And loyal to thy land, as this to thee—Bear witness, that rememberable day,When, pale as yet, and fever-worn, the PrinceWho scarce had pluck'd his flickering life againFrom halfway down the shadow of the grave,Past with thee thro' thy people and their love,And London roll'd one tide of joy thro' allHer trebled millions, and loud leagues of manAnd … [Read more...] about To the Queen (O loyal to the royal in thyself), By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson