Villanelle
A nineteen-line poem of five tercets and a closing quatrain, built on two rhymes and two refrains that return in a fixed order and meet as the final couplet.
- Opening tercet
- A1 · b · A2
- Closing quatrain
- a · b · A1 · A2
In practice
A villanelle is a nineteen-line poem: five tercets and a closing quatrain, built on only two rhyme sounds. Its first and third lines are refrains. They return in turn as the last line of each tercet, and both come back as the final two lines of the poem, so the whole form is a slow approach to that last couplet.
The rhyme scheme is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA. Written with the refrains marked, it runs A1 b A2, a b A1, a b A2, a b A1, a b A2, a b A1 A2. Every line ends on one of two sounds, which gives the poem its circling, obsessive quality.
The form suits a mind that cannot stop returning to something: grief, loss, a vow, a fear. The best villanelles change what the refrains mean as they repeat. A line that sounds like advice in the first stanza can sound like pleading by the last, because of everything the poem has said in between.
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Villanelle examples
Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night" is the best-known villanelle in English. Its two refrains, the title line and "Rage, rage against the dying of the light", are repeated through stanzas about wise men, good men, wild men and grave men, and land as a plea to the poet's dying father.
Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" bends the form: its refrain "The art of losing isn't hard to master" changes slightly each time, and the last line breaks into a parenthesis as the poem admits what it has been avoiding. Edwin Arlington Robinson's "The House on the Hill" uses short lines and the same two rhymes to make an empty house echo.
How to write a villanelle
Write the two refrains first, because they will each appear four times. They need to work as a pair, since they end the poem together, and each should be able to mean something slightly different when it returns. Then list as many words as you can that rhyme with each refrain's last word; you will need seven A rhymes and six B rhymes in total.
Lay out the nineteen lines with the refrains in place: lines 1, 6, 12 and 18 are the first refrain, lines 3, 9, 15 and 19 the second. Fill in the middle line of each tercet with the B rhyme, and let each stanza move the situation on so the refrains land differently. Change a refrain slightly if the sentence needs it; many poets do.
Common villanelle mistakes
Refrains that only repeat. If each return of a line means exactly what it meant before, the poem feels stuck rather than haunted. Give each stanza new information so the refrain is heard in a new light.
Forced rhymes. With two sounds across nineteen lines, it is tempting to grab any word that fits. Choose rhyme sounds that have many good options in your language, and rewrite a line whose word order twists to reach its rhyme.
Common questions
What is a villanelle?
A villanelle is a nineteen-line poem of five tercets and a quatrain, with two rhymes and two refrains. The refrains alternate as the last lines of the tercets and close the poem together.
What is the rhyme scheme of a villanelle?
ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA. The first refrain is lines 1, 6, 12 and 18; the second is lines 3, 9, 15 and 19.
What is a famous villanelle?
Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night" is the most famous. Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" is another widely taught example.
How many lines are in a villanelle?
Nineteen: five three-line stanzas followed by one four-line stanza.
Does a villanelle have a set meter?
No. Many English villanelles use iambic pentameter, but the form is defined by its lines, rhymes and refrains, not by a required meter.