The Art of Backpedaling; Or, the Villanelle

Have you met the villanelle? What was once a song-like poem that originated in the Italian countryside....which looks a little like this:

credit: glogster.com Pretty, huh?

...the villanelle is now a form with clear rules and a rhyme scheme. The standardization of the villanelle didn't come until a sixteenth-century French poet Jean Passerat had immense success with his poem. By the late 1800's, villanelles were becoming increasingly popular for poets who wrote in English, and they continue to be found in poetry today.

Note: All knowledge credited to Norton's "The Making of a Poem," and, of course, the professor who assigned my classmates and I the book.

Arguably, one of the most popular villanelles is Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," which enchants us with a tale of grief in a very formal execution of the villanelle. Similarly, one of my favorite villanelles also takes a more somber tone:

So, you've seen the examples; now for the explanation.

The beautiful thing (and for some, the most frustrating part) of the villanelle is the cyclical nature. This sense of always going back, refusing to move forward, means the villanelle is very suited to poems of grief, sadness, or nostalgia.

If you stay true to the form, you're married to two lines, which means you don't get a lot of wiggle room when it comes to trying to progress your poem forward. There's always a sense backpedaling in a villanelle, as we've said, so you have to take extra care when you get started, anticipating where your poem will go, even if you don't fully know yet. However, if you favor a more relaxed stance on form like I do, you're willing to break the rules; ie, modify your lines to add a sense of progression to your poem, much like Bishop does in hers.

So, how do you write a villanelle? First, use our guide to help you follow the rules (loosely as you wish) and determine the two lines you plan to cycle through your villanelle. Second, allow us to determine the rhyme scheme for you! (It wouldn't be a prompt without a little bit of a challenge, hmmm?)

a: -elle

b: -oh

And finally, allow the form to surprise you. Get to work!

Have you written a villanelle before, or was today your first experiment? Tell us what you think of this form (or share the poem you wrote!) by leaving a comment below.