This post is part of the Poetic Forms series.
The villanelle as it is commonly used today is derived from the French form, though the American terzanelle exists as a form of villanelle that is written in terza rima (an accentual-syllabic Italian stanza form). The French villanelle has been popular among many poets, and has been used by Oscar Wilde, Sylvia Plath, and other well-known wordsmiths over the years.
Villanelles began to appear in the Renaissance as Italian and Spanish dance-songs, called villanella or villancico (referring to the Italian word for peasant, which is villano). These songs often did not use a specific form, and were named such for the tendency of these songs to discuss rustic themes and pastoral life. French poets began to write poems called villanelles, which also did not use a specific form but which harkened to similar topics as the songs that preceded them. It is believed that it wasn’t until the 19th century that the villanelle became a fixed form through the work of Théodore de Banville.
The villanelle is a nineteen line poem, comprised of five triplet stanzas followed by a concluding quatrain. A stanza is essentially a “poetic paragraph”, a set of lines that are held together on the page. Triplet stanzas refer to stanzas made of three lines each. A quatrain refers to a stanza made of four lines.
This poetic form only uses two rhymes throughout. A characteristic that sets villanelles apart from other forms is its use of refrains. A refrain is a line that is repeated in a poem. Instead of creating a new rhyme, some lines (the refrains) will be lines that are directly repeated throughout the poem. The villanelle uses two refrains, meaning there will be two lines that are repeated multiple times throughout the poem. The first of these refrains will appear as lines 1, 6, 12, and 18. The second refrain will appear as lines 3, 9, 15, and 19. The two refrains will also comprise the final two lines of the quatrain, and therefor the poem as a whole.
The rhyme and refrain pattern will appear like this:
b (first alternative rhyme, does not rhyme with the refrains)
A2 (refrain 2)
b (rhymes with the second line of stanza 1)
A1 (refrain 1)
b (second rhyme–rhymes with the second line of stanzas 1 and 2)
A2 (refrain two)
b (second rhyme)
A1 (refrain 1)
b (second rhyme)
A2 (refrain 2)
b (second rhyme)
A1 (refrain 1)
A2 (refrain 2)
Notable Examples
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night– Dylan Thomas
The House on the Hill– Edwin Arlington Robinson
Mad Girl’s Love Song – Sylvia Plath
