Villanelle

Despite its origins as a French poem, the villanelle has been mostly written in English. One “true” villanelle came from Frenchman Jean Passerat during the Renaissance. Because of the poem’s complex form, the style remained lax until the nineteenth century when author Theodore de Banville popularized the form. Then again, the form began to lull. That was until the 1930s when William Empson revived the form. When it comes to writing one and context of the poems, it has been given the definition of “exquisite torture, wrapped into 19 lines.” Additionally, villanelles can employ from six to eleven syllables per line; most modern villanelles run from eight to eleven syllables per line, carrying three to five measured beats.

A villanelle is a French verse poem that has five three-line stanzas (a group of lines in a poem that do not have a break between them) and a final quatrain (a stanza with four lines). The first and third lines of the opening stanza recur alternately at the end of the other stanzas and with both repeated in the closing quatrain. These two repeated lines will form the final couplet in the quatrain (“Villanelle).

If this seems overwhelming at first, or if it sounds like complete nonsense, refer to the "Rhyme Scheme and Structure" tab. It helps give a visual of Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem "The House on the Hill," and how it is broken down into the villanelle form.

Someone may write in the form of a villanelle for a challenge of rhyme and structure. Or they simply may want to broaden their abilities. However, a villanelle is best suited for serious, and maybe even dark, subject matter. The seriousness of the poem comes from the constant repetition of the lines. These repeating lines will help pound the meaning and seriousness of the poem over and over again, while still being flexible for the rest of the poem's lines.