Villanelle, Poetic Form Exercise Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

In the Villanelle, the first five stanzas are triplets (or tercets), and the last stanza is a quatrain such that the rhyme scheme is as follows: "aba aba aba aba aba abaa." Thus a Villanelle has 19 lines. 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. There are only two rhymes in the usual villanelle, placed strategically in the poem. A villanelle needs no particular meter or line length.

One of the most noted of these that is a splendid example is one by Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night."

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 me, 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!

[AMETHYST]

Hello Maxim,


You've met this form with a masterful hand ~ There are some absolute excellent lines and imagery. The rependant lines are smooth and blend well, each making their slight changes of meaning, while maintaining a steady message. The end rhymes are fresh. Not the same old, overused rhymes we often see when dealing with a repetitve sound.

I think you should be quite proud of your work here.

Best Regards, Liz ~

Progress

Our future's safe, we're not concerned,
as Man's advances demonstrate,
what distance our stone wheel has turned!

Great opening stanza. A dramatic tone to match a prominate declaration.

Our primal beast has long been spurned;
since reasoning controls our fate,
our future's safe. We're not concerned

Slowly, the narrator offers a rational change to present the ideal of mind over feeling, or instinct as it might be. The assurance that we are in control of our own destiny, and yet...it bears with it a slight unsurity in the tone. I liked this as it gives that undertone of 'are we?' ...

that former cultures grew then burned.
We'd sooner claim they illustrate
what distance our stone wheel has turned.

The word 'claim' reinforces that unsurity for me, the reader. I felt the intensity of worriment.

And yet the very things we've learned
make it debatable to rate
our futures safe. We're not concerned

but has this confidence been earned?
Could Nature's ills now indicate
what distance our stone wheel has turned?

The growth from the first stanza, as the narrator is assured, and slowly offers tid bits to put the reader in doubt, to see a larger picture beyond our control and rationalizations. Excellent word choices to enhance this turn about of progress and it's direction of where we are and how little we control.

If real progress can be discerned
then why with blind indifference state,
"Our future's safe"? We're not concerned
what distance our stone wheel has turned!

EXCELLENT ending. This is a powerful observation that leaves the reader, pondering and wondering about our lives... both in the small of what brief effect we have and experience, and the whole of the universe around us. Great Work. Look forward to more of your work.