Form
The villanelle has no established meter, although most nineteenth-century villanelles had eight or six syllables per line and most twentieth-century villanelles had ten syllables per line. The essence of the fixed modern form is its distinctive pattern of rhyme and repetition. The rhyme-and-refrain pattern of the villanelle can be schematized as A1bA2 abA1 abA2 abA1 abA2 abA1A2 where letters ("a" or "A" and "b") indicate the two rhyme sounds, upper case indicates a refrain ("A"), and superscript numerals (1 and 2) indicate Refrain 1 and Refrain 2.
- Refrain 1 (A1)
- Line 2 (b)
- Refrain 2 (A2)
- Line 4 (a)
- Line 5 (b)
- Refrain 1 (A1)
- Line 7 (a)
- Line 8 (b)
- Refrain 2 (A2)
- Line 10 (a)
- Line 11 (b)
- Refrain 1 (A1)
- Line 13 (a)
- Line 14 (b)
- Refrain 2 (A2)
- Line 16 (a)
- Line 17 (b)
- Refrain 1 (A1)
- Refrain 2 (A2)
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Example
Edwin Arlington Robinson's villanelle "The House on the Hill" was first published in The Globe in September 1894.
- They are all gone away,
- The House is shut and still,
- There is nothing more to say.
- Through broken walls and gray
- The winds blow bleak and shrill.
- They are all gone away.
- Nor is there one to-day
- To speak them good or ill:
- There is nothing more to say.
- Why is it then we stray
- Around the sunken sill?
- They are all gone away,
- And our poor fancy-play
- For them is wasted skill:
- There is nothing more to say.
- There is ruin and decay
- In the House on the Hill:
- They are all gone away,
- There is nothing more to say.
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Mr. Evenski gratefully acknowledges the source of the rest of this information and wording: the Craft of Poetry Home, Vince Gotera's page for a fall, 2001 course, at the University of Northern Iowa 
This is Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night." It
is one of the most famous villanelles and, while Thomas does not experiment
much with the form, the poem is a great example of how villanelle repetition
works. The boldface and italics are there to more easily show the repeated
lines and demonstrate the structure of the poem.
Do not go gentle
into that good night,
Old age should
burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their
end know dark is right,
Because their words
had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Good men, the last wave
by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds
might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and
sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late,
they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Grave men, near death,
who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could
blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there
on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me
now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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Villanelles are a nightmare;
there is no other way to say it. The form is originally French and
didn't appear in English until the later 1800's. It is 19 lines long,
but only uses two rhymes, while also repeating two lines throughout
the poem. The first five stanzas are triplets, and the last stanza
is a quatrain such that the rhyme scheme is as follows: "aba aba aba
aba aba abaa." The tricky part is that the 1st and 3rd lines from the
first stanza are alternately repeated such that the 1st line becomes
the last line in the second stanza, and the 3rd line becomes the last
line in the third stanza. The last two lines of the poem are lines
1 and 3 respectively, making a rhymed couplet. Confused? A villanelle
needs no particulary meter or line length, so feel free to experiment
with the form. It is terribly obsessive and can bring out the emotions
of any neurotic writer.
The terzanelle is a modified villanelle. It uses
the terza rima's interlocked rhyme pattern, but fits the villanelle
form of five triplets and a quatrain. In addition, the middle line
of the 1st stanza becomes the third line of the next stanza, and
so on, such that the terzanelle is a huge pain, but worth the effort
and determination to finish.
Because the repeated line changes and the rhyme sounds change (according
to terza rima structure) the terzanelle is a less obsessive poem
than the villanelle whose repetetion can be overpowering. A terzanelle's
repetetion is more subtle and can give the poem a lush texture that
a harsh repeater-poem cannot do. Terzanelle's are difficult to write,
but fun to play with. This is Lewis Turco's "Terzanelle in Thunderweather"
This is the moment when
shadows gather
under the elms, the
cornices and eaves.
This is the center of thunderweather.
The birds are quiet
among these white leaves
where wind stutters,
starts, then moves steadily
under the elms, the cornices, and eaves--
these are our voices
speaking guardedly
about the sky, of the
sheets of lightning
where wind stutters, starts,
then moves steadily
into our lungs, across
our lips, tightening
our throats. Our eyes
are speaking in the dark
about the sky, of the sheets
of lightening
that illuminate moments.
In the stark
shades we inhibit,
there are no words for
our throats. Our eyes are
speaking in the dark
of things we cannot
say, cannot ignore.
This is the moment
when shadows gather,
shades we inhibit. There
are no words, for
this is the center of thunderweather.
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How To
and Examples
A strong villanelle is tied together with line breaks and refrains that
make sense. Experimenting with line break (enjambment) can take the edge
off the repetition of the refrain making the refrain more intereseting
and less stock. As well, the refrain should be part of the poem, the
natural next line when possible, otherwise the whole of the poem suffers.
Some poets take great liberty with diction and syntax in their refrains,
like Marilyn Hacker, for example, who adds or subtracts a few words and
moves the caesura to add punch to repeated lines. Try to lead into those
lines to make them part of the poem, otherwise the difficulty of the
villanelle will have you very frustrated. I know this because
my first villanelles failed to do this. This is an example from a bad
poem I called "Cat Killing"
A cat creeps from the
comfort of its sill,
One paw in the cactus
pot, the other out of sight,
Do not read this
poem against your will.
A feather
falls slowly, a cat with feel,
In the corner, rat-razor
fangs filing for a strike,
Red words are designed to kill.
That's terrible, really bad. The refrains (lines 3 and 6) do nothing
for the rest of the poem, it's almost like two poems, and there
is no enjambment at all. These two stanzas are a good example of
how not to write a villanelle. Look above to Dylan Thomas or Lewis
Turco to see how to become a villanelle master.
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Online Examples and Resources:
-- Damon McLaughlin
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