Villanelle
Nineteen-line form
A villanelle is a highly structured poem of nineteen lines: five tercets followed by a quatrain, with only two rhymes throughout and two lines that repeat in a precise pattern.
The form's rigid constraints create an incantatory, obsessive quality.
Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night" is the most famous English example.
Three-line verse unit
- refrainAbstain from acting
- quatrainFour-line poetic unit
- envoiConcluding stanza of dedication
- stanzaPoem's line grouping
rhyme scheme · ABA · fixed form · poetic structure · Thomas · Bishop · Plath · Dylan Thomas
Abstain from acting
- echoReflected sound wave
- recurrenceReturn of something previous
- repriseRecurrence of a theme
- returnGo back again
cycling · reiteration · obsession · incantation · ritual · haunting · insistence · chant
Being without something
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- obsessionPersistent, intrusive preoccupation
- mortalityState of eventual death
- longingIntense, persistent desire
madness · memory · regret · time · inevitability · rage · defiance · lamentation
European cultural reawakening
- FrenchOf or from Paris's nation
- ItalianOf or from Rome's country
- pastoralOf countryside or clergy care
- troubadourMedieval Provençal lyric poet
tercet
Three-line verse unit
stanza · rhyme scheme · ABA · fixed form · poetic structure · Thomas · Bishop · Plath · Dylan Thomas
refrain
Abstain from acting
- echoReflected sound wave
- recurrenceReturn of something previous
- repriseRecurrence of a theme
return · cycling · reiteration · obsession · incantation · ritual · haunting · insistence · chant · litany
loss
Being without something
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- obsessionPersistent, intrusive preoccupation
- mortalityState of eventual death
longing · madness · memory · regret · time · inevitability · rage · defiance · lamentation · melancholy
Renaissance
European cultural reawakening
- FrenchOf or from Paris's nation
- ItalianOf or from Rome's country
- pastoralOf countryside or clergy care
troubadour · courtly · sixteenth century · folk song · dance song
Villanellefree verse
Poetry without fixed structure
prose poetry · beat poetry · stream of consciousness · found poetry · blank verse
Villanellefree verse
Poetry without fixed structure
doggerel · nursery rhyme · couplet · epigram · limerick
villa, village, villain, villainy, villainous, villager, villages, villas, villains