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"...the writing of poems....
the call of overhearing music that is not yet made."
Mary Kinzie, in A Poet's Guide to Poetry
Poetry is the lyrical rendition of the rhythm of sight, sound, touch, taste; of living, seen through the eyes of a poet and consigned to paper and laptop and keyboard until it can be read aloud. Yes, all poetry needs to be read aloud, to savor the rhythm in the words, and revive the images the poet conscribed to the pages of a book or computer.
I am honored to be your guest host for this edition of the WDC Poetry Newsletter.
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Greetings,
Previously we explored together the 'little song' that rings through the ages, connecting poets and their listeners past and present in a lyric symphony. The Sonnet in all its variations through the ages, retaines an echo of the voice that sang the fist little song.
The Villanelle is another lyric form of poetry, or song, that retains its rhythm across time and seas and continents. Similar in its origin to the sonnet, it began as an oral presentation, a folk song form, in sixteenth century rural Italy. Crossing borders to France, the villanella or dance/song of the villano (farmhand), morphed to the familiar tradition as a poem in France. Jean Passerate is the poet credited with establishing the familiar fixed form back in the sixteenth century. Then, in the nineteenth century, English poets picked up the tune and more recently, American poets such as Roethke and Dylan Thomas added it to their repertoire.
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 goodnight,...
Dylan Thomas
Poems repeat themselves and within themselves repeat. Just as tradition in poetry is identified with the sonnet, the little song that has persisted with variation and in its original form for near a millenium, repetition parallels Villanelle because it is the premise that drives the form, by use of the repeated line, or refrain. Consider the two stanzas above, in particular, the first and third lines of the opening stanza. That is the refrain, the image or thought that Dylan Thomas is bringing forth. He goes on to express that thought in five tercets (three-line stanzas) by repeating first the initial line at the end of a stanza, then the third line, and again repreating. He concludes by bringing them together to end the sixth , a quatrain (four-line stanza), bringing to the fore the image he expressed throughout. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Do not go gentle into that goodnight."
So, if you have an idea, a vision, an image, that sticks in your mind begging expression, the villanelle form can give it focus, for you as poet and your listeners. It can be a trying form to write, but so is focusing on one image or idea. If a vision or idea sticks in your head, or teases the corner of your eye, refusing to leave, perhaps a villanelle can help guide your focus to amplify or reveal more of that sticky mote of an idea.
 The traditional fixed villanelle form is a nineteen-line poem consisting of five tercets and a concluding quatrain.
There is no fixed meter or length to a line, but there is a strict rhyme pattern.
The first and third lines rhyme throughout the five tercets and the second line of each tercet rhymes with its correspondent in each stanza.
The first line is reapeated as the third line of the second and fourth stanzas, and the third line is repeated as the third line in the third and fifth tercets.
The first and third line of the first stanza reprise as the third and fourth lines of the concluding quatrain. These two lines may be slightly different than the original if they've been modified or amplified in their meaning in the verses leading to the conclusion.
Use some enjambment within a tercet or two to hold the rhyme but keep the verse from becoming repetitive, ending an image begun in the first line in the second, adding impact with internal rhythm or assonance/alliteration to reinforce your image.
Although the second lines does not repeat, its end rhyme repeates in each successive stanza.
You think that a string of aba, aba, aba, aba, aba, aba abab would be mere limerick or a parody, well, that's been done as well, and if I come back for another guest appearance, perhaps we'll explore the variations over time that have reinforced and enhanced this lyric song.
Consider the villanelle as a lyric form of expressing and enhancing an idea or image about which you are passionate. You want to explore it in its full depth and share that exploration in verse. Impassioned, you explore a different fact of your passion in each stanza, then resolve or change it at the end, reinforcing or perhaps modifying the original image you've explored with your listener.
The villanelle began as a pastoral, folk-type lyric poem, which it remains to this day ~ But it also has become an effective form to express a lament, comedy, fantasy, any idea which provokes your muse to explore its expression. Though a fixed form, I think it's liberating in that it helps one focus and explore an idea fully and with depth. Thought the lyrics may vary, "the song remains the same."
Until we next meet, may your poetic dance be a lyric symphony, in focused meter or free form exploration.
Keep Writing!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Explore with me this lyric form as expressed by members of our Community, and share in their song with a comment or review
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Challenge your Muse Creative to explore a villanelle, or a variation, or any form that fixes for you an image or idea ~ your poem will be well received here
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Thank you for exploring with me this lyric form of verse. I hope you entertain thoughts of writing one yourself, or sharing one you've written.
Until we next meet,
Sing the Muse Creative,
and write the lyrics you hear, imagine, and dream.
Keep Writing!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Poetry: September 09, 2009 Issue [#3265]
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