The name of the story is ‘The Prize Poem’ written by P.G. Wodehouse. The story is based on the theme that ‘nobody can be forced to become a poet’. In this extract, Wodehouse describes how in a school the students of the Sixth Form were compelled to compete for the prize-poem. A grown up student, Reynolds, who was convalescing in an Infirmary wrote four lines on several pieces of paper that were accidentally blown away.

                             


Thus the poems submitted by three students began exactly with the same four lines. The Headmaster wanted to punish them for collusion. But they confessed the truth, and the rule of competition changed. The entire situation is described in a light-hearted tone. The use of colloquial language and the student slang makes the whole account very spicy.