A hundred words, like a hundred anything, is a large-enough quantity to command respect without trying too hard — just hard enough. How much harder would it be to fit those hundred words within a formal model, say a sentence, a paragraph, or a sonnet? It should not take superabundant imagination or wit to write a 100-word run-on sentence and even less to compose a 100-word paragraph. But a 100-word sonnet? “Shall I compare thee to . . .?” OK, I counted. “Sonnet 18” is 114 words. What would it take to cook it down to an even 100?
Jim, I notice that Lanning Lee has submitted 100-word sonnets in the past to meet the limit restriction.