from Jim Ward (jfw@Radix.Net)

Sonnet Hunt

1. There are 26 clues, A to Z.
2. Each clue is the first line of a sonnet with each word replaced
   by the number of characters in that word. The punctuation has not
   been altered from the sonnet source.
3. The value of a clue is the sonnet number, or a number in the
   sonnet title.
4. Your FINAL ANSWER is the sum of the 26 values of the 26 clues.
5. The winner is the person who has the highest FINAL ANSWER less than
   or equal to the true answer. Please, only one guess per person.
6. A word pile has been provided that lists all of the words used
   in the clues. The spelling of each word has not been altered from
   the sonnet source (or translation).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example Clue: (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, sonnet number)

   3 2 1 4 4? 3 2 5 3 4.

Answer Line: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

   This is the first line of Sonnet #43, From the Portuguese

Clue Value: 43
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[Start of Puzzle]

Clues:

A. (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, sonnet number)

   2 7! 3 4 5, 4 3 5!

B. (Percy Bysshe Shelley, number in the sonnet title)

   2 3, 3, 5, 8, 3 5 4,--

C. (Emma Lazarus, number in the sonnet title)

   4 9 4, 6 2 6 3 4,

D. (John Milton, sonnet number)

   4 1 8 3 2 5 2 5

E. (William Shakespeare, sonnet number)

   3 2 3 2 3 8 2 4 5

F. (John Donne, sonnet number)

   5, 2 3 5, 6 4 4 6 4

G. (John Keats, sonnet number)

   1 8! 2 1 4 4 4 5,

H. (Thomas Hardy, sonnet number)

   7, 4 5, 4 1 4 6 4,

I. (William Wordsworth, number in sonnet title)

   6! 4 8 2 6 2 4 4:

J. (Pablo Neruda, sonnet number)

   4 5, 7 5, 3 4,

K. (Edna St. Vincent Millay, sonnet number)

   2, 2 3 4 2 5 3 4 4!

L. (John Berryman, sonnet number)

   2 4 4 7, 2 4 4 5 2 5

M. (Edmund Spenser, sonnet number)

   3 3 1 5 3 4 4 3 6,

N. (Samuel Daniel, sonnet number)

   12 5, 3 2 3 5 5

O. (Petrarch, sonnet number)

   4, 3 5 2 8 2 3 6

P. (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, sonnet number)

   1 5 5 4 2 8 7 4

Q. (Thomas Wyatt, sonnet number)

   6, 4 4 3 7 2 5,

R. (Michelangelo Buonarroti, sonnet number)

   1 6 2 5 1 3 4 4 8 7

S. (Michael Drayton, sonnet number)

   2 2 4 6 4 7 4 6 4

T. (Amy Lowell, number in sonnet title)

   2 4 2 "10 5" 4 3 5

U. (Algernon Charles Swinburne, sonnet number)

   1 9 4 2 5 4 4 2 6:

V. (Rupert Brooke, sonnet number)

   2 1 6 3, 5 4 4 2 2:

W. (Fulke Greville, sonnet number)

   3 5, 4 7 4, 4 4 7,

X. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, sonnet number)

   1 4 2 7 3 2 7!

Y. (Rainer Maria Rilke, sonnet number)

   2 5 3 5 2 6, 9, 5.

Z. (John Addington Symonds, number in sonnet title)

   3 6 2 1 5, 5 8 6
---------------------------------------------------------------
Word Pile

 1 character words:

   A
   A
   I
   I
   I
   I
   I
   I
   I
   O
   O
   a

 2 character words:

   An
   He
   If
   If
   It
   My
   Oh
   We
   as
   at
   be
   be
   be
   he
   if
   in
   is
   is
   it
   it
   me
   me
   my
   my
   no
   of
   of
   of
   of
   of
   of
   of
   of
   of
   oh
   on
   to
   us

 3 character words:

   Let
   One
   THE
   The
   all
   and
   and
   and
   and
   day
   die
   for
   got
   her
   his
   his
   hot
   how
   mad
   not
   not
   old
   son
   the
   the
   the
   the
   the
   who
   you

 4 character words:

   Fate
   Full
   Love
   Love
   Thou
   When
   away
   bids
   bore
   dead
   died
   doom
   fire
   fire
   from
   from
   have
   have
   hour
   king
   long
   moon
   more
   must
   mute
   name
   only
   seem
   some
   star
   that
   that
   that
   that
   that
   thee
   thee
   this
   this
   this
   this
   thou
   torn
   true
   upon
   when
   when
   when
   will
   will
   with
   with
   with
   word
   year

 5 character words:

   Death
   Egypt
   Fever
   Night
   Sleep
   apple
   blind
   cycle
   dwell
   dying
   earth
   fruit
   hence
   light
   minds
   paper
   proud
   range
   range
   rules
   sable
   seems
   seems
   share
   sorry
   spent
   stood
   think
   where
   where
   white
   woman
   world
   wrote
   youth

 6 character words:

   Caesar
   Change
   Heav'n
   MILTON
   Mother
   Sonnet
   called
   caught
   empire
   flower
   goiter
   grieve
   living
   living
   passed
   should
   strand
   though

 7 character words:

   Perhaps
   armfuls
   blasted
   craning
   filch'd
   fleshly
   letters
   liberty
   morning
   strange
   thunder
   traitor

 8 character words:

   Solitude
   backward
   brimming
   consider
   despised
   feelings
   marriage
   shouldst
   thinking

 9 character words:

   graceless
   grapeleaf
   two-faced

10 character words:

   Stranger's

12 character words:

   Care-charmer