How to Write a Villanelle
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Attempting this difficult French form of poetry can be challenging and fun. Here is the basis of the form.
Steps
- Comprehend the form of this poetry. The villanelle has 19 lines, 5 stanzas of three lines and 1 stanza of four lines with two rhymes and two refrains. The 1st, then the 3rd lines alternate as the last lines of stanzas 2, 3, and 4, and then stanza 5 (the end) as a couplet. It is usually written in tetrameter (4 feet) or pentameter. The structure is provided with this example by Edward Arlington Robinson:
- line 1 - a - 1st refrain-Since Persia fell at Marathon
- line 2 - b The yellow years have gathered fast
- line 3- a- 2nd refrain- Long centuries have come and gone.
- line 4 - a - And yet(they say) the place will don
- line 5 - b A phantom fury of the past,
- line 6 - a - 1st refrain- Since Persia fell at Marathon;
- line 7 - a And as of old when Helicon
- line 8 - b Trembled and swayed with rapture vast
- line 9-a -2nd refrain-(Long centuries have come and gone).
- line 10 - a The ancient plain, when nigh comes on,
- line 11 - b Shakes to a ghostly battle blast,
- line 12 - a - 1st refrain- Since Persia fell at Marathon
- line 13 - a But into soundless Acheron
- line 14 - b The glory of Greek shame was cast:
- line 15- a -2nd refrain- Long centuries have come and gone,
- line 16 - a The suns of hellas have all shone,
- line 17 - b The first has fallen to the last;--
- line 18-a - 1st refrain- Since Persia fell at Marathon,
- line 19-a- 2nd refrain- Long centuries have come and gone.
- Pay special attention to the placement of the refrain and the rhyme pattern formed by the last word of each line.
- Choose the subject for your villanelle carefully. It is a difficult form that repeats two lines multiple times. Ask yourself if your subject is one that can be handled with these limitations.
- Once you've settled on an idea, work out the rhyme and compile two lists of words that rhyme.
- Write the first and second refrain as two lines that follow a complete thought. For instance Dylan Thomas's two lines from his famous villanelle: "Do not go gentle into that goodnight/Rage, rage against the dying of a light."
- Take those lines and place them in the framework given above. This will be the basis for the villanelle and look, and 42% of the poem is already complete.
- Now comes the hard part. Fill in the eleven remaining lines to make a cohesive poem.
- Read the poem aloud to a large audience and bow.
Tips
- Even the crustiest English professors and most brilliant of all literary minds struggle with the villanelle so don't sweat it.
- Choose a small subject that fascinates you.
- Villanelles originated as a musical form and sound terrific read or sung aloud. They also sound better in French or Italian.
- Read Elizabeth Bishop's villanelle "One Art" and Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Goodnight" for Inspiration.
- Meter the lines so they maintain a rhythm and are of the same length. They are traditionally in tetrameter or pentameter in English but can work in free verse as well.
Warnings
- Too large a topic can overburden the form. Simple is best.
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