Villanelle

    

      The word Villanelle comes from the Italian word 'villano' meaning peasant. They were originally formless peasant songs or rustic songs - songs based on the country side.  But later they evolved to be fixed verses with a specific structure.

    No. of lines 

A villanelle consists of 5  three line stanzas or tercets and an ending 4 line stanza or a quatrain.  So totally nineteen lines

Refrain: The first line of the first stanza (say A1) is repeated again in third line of second stanza and fourth stanza. The third line of the first stanza( A2) is repeated in the third line of the third and the fifth stanza.  And on the final stanza ( the quatrain)  the last two lines are the first line of first stanza (A1) and third line of first stanza ( A2)

Rhyming scheme : The rhyming scheme is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA

But since 1st line of first stanza is repeated again on the last line of second and 4th stanzas and last line of first stanza is repeated again in the last lines of 3rd and 5th stanzas, Villanelle is well represented as 

A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2.

small a represents the lines rhyming with A1 and A2 . 

Example : 

Dylan Thomas - 1914-1953

• j                                                                                   (A1)
• 
  
•       
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;(b)
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.(A2)

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, (a)
Because their words had forked no lightning they (b)
Do not go gentle into that good night.(A1)

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright(a)
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,(b)
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.(A2)

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,(a)
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, (b)
Do not go gentle into that good night. (A1)

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight (a)
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,(b)
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.(A2)

And you, my father, there on the sad height,(a)
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.(b)
Do not go gentle into that good night.(A1)
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. (A2)

  From the above example , you can clearly see the form,

Tips for writing :

          1. Though this form looks a bit complex , it is in fact very easy to write. All you have to do is repeated the first and third line of the first stanza over and over. Hence your first stanza is the most important one . So create a powerful tercet to begin with.

          2. Throughout a Villanelle there should be only two patterns of rhyming (a ,b) and hence as a beginner it is easier to choose  words that rhymes with many other words.

         3. Try experimenting. Once you are done read it out loud and trying substituting better words.

        4. Don't rhyme forcefully by adding in meaningless words only for the sake of the rhythm. Let it flow. It may take a lot of time but it is worth the time. 

       5. Try avoiding near rhymes .  

That's all about writing a Villanelle. Now pick up the pen and craft your beauty.

  Note: None of the poems we present belong to us. We present an organized record and analysis of them. All copyrights are reserved to the original author and we are not using plagiarized work. The originality of the writes is verified to the fullest extent we can.

- Radhuga,  member of Team PoeTreeFoRest