Hey! This is late sorry sorry. I've had a whole lot going on this week so bear with me.
Anyways, I have decided to make Tuesday's a poetry day!
So today's poetry tip is going to be on the Villanelle.
The villanelle, like the other French forms, does have many of the same properties: plenty of rhyme and repetition. This French form was actually adapted from Italian folk songs (villanella) about rural life. One of the more famous contemporary villanelles is "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," by Dylan Thomas (one of my all time favorite poems).
The villanelle consists of five tercets (three line stanza) and a quatrain (four line stanza) with line lengths of 8-10 syllables. The first and third lines of the first stanza become refrains that repeat throughout the poem. It looks like this:
A(1)
b
A(2)
a
b
A(1)
a
b
A(2)
a
b
A(1)
a
b
A(2)
a
b
A(1)
A(2)
So the letters represent the rhyme scheme and line repetition. Every time there is an A(1) its the exact same line, and so on.
Here is an example:
Do not go gentle into that good night
by Dylan Thomas
A(1): Do not go gentle into that good night,
B: Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
A(2): Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
A: Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
B: Because their words had forked no lightning they
A(1): Do not go gentle into that good night.
A: Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
B: Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
A(2): Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
A: Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
B: And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
A(1): Do not go gentle into that good night.
A: Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
B: Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
A(2): Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
A: And you, my father, there on the sad height,
B: Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
A(1): Do not go gentle into that good night.
A(2): Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
So try is out! Write a villanelle about whatever you want! If you need inspiration, nature is a good start (: send me your poems!!!
