The Sestina

1
The Sestina
2
The Poem

• Sestinas are very difficult to successfully
  craft.
• Generally the sestina is used to express emotions
  about a topic (lyric poem) or to tell a story
  (narrative poem).
• The difficulty is in the format.

3
Format

• The sestina is a poem with a very specific
  format.
• It is a 39-line long poem.
• It is divided into six 6-line stanzas and one
  3-line stanza.
• In English, the lines are usually written in
  iambic pentameter.

4
Composition

• The poet writes the first six-line stanza.
• Then the poet recycles the end words from the
  first stanza according to a specific pattern
• The end words from the first stanza become the
  end words for all the stanzas

5
The Pattern

• Assume that the end words for each line
  correspond to the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F.
• The pattern of end words for the rest of the poem
  is found by drawing a spiral through the end
  words, beginning at the bottom.

6
Stanza 1
Stanza 2

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F

F A E B D C
7
Stanza 2
Stanza 3
C F D A B E
F A E B D C
8
Stanza 3
Stanza 4
E C B F A D
C F D A B E
9
Stanza 4
Stanza 5
D E A C F B
E C B F A D
10
Stanza 5
Stanza 6
B D F E C A
D E A C F B
11
Stanza 7

• The last stanza uses all of the end words in
  three lines.
• Half of the end words are used in the middle of
  the lines
• The other half are used at the end of the lines.
• There are many different possibilities for the
  arrangement of the final stanza

12
Final Stanza Possible Arrangements
Possibility 1
Possibility 2
Possibility 3
Possibility 4
A D B E C F
A B C D E F
B E C D A F
F E C D A B
13
An Example

• The following example has been divided into its
  stanzas and each stanza has been labeled for
  better viewing. However, usually the poems
  stanzas are not labeled.

14

• Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop
• Stanza 1
• September rain falls on the house.
• In the failing light, the old grandmother
• sits in the kitchen with the child
• beside the Little Marvel Stove,
• reading the jokes from the almanac,
• laughing and talking to hide her tears.

15
Stanza 2She thinks that her equinoctial
tearsand the rain that beats on the roof of the
housewere both foretold by the almanac,but only
known to a grandmother.The iron kettle sings on
the stove.She cuts some bread and says to the
child,
16
Stanza 3It's time for tea now but the childis
watching the teakettle's small hard tearsdance
like mad on the hot black stove,the way the rain
must dance on the house.Tidying up, the old
grandmother hangs up the clever almanac
17
Stanza 4on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,hovers above
the old grandmotherand her teacup full of dark
brown tears.She shivers and says she thinks the
house feels chilly, and puts more wood in the
stove.
18
Stanza 5It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.I
know what I know, says the almanac.With crayons
the child draws a rigid houseand a winding
pathway. Then the childputs in a man with
buttons like tearsand shows it proudly to the
grandmother.
19
Stanza 6But secretly, while the
grandmotherbusies herself about the stove,the
little moons fall down like tearsfrom between
the pages of the almanacinto the flower bed the
childhas carefully placed in the front of the
house.
20
Stanza 7Time to plant tears, says the
almanac.The grandmother sings to the marvelous
stoveand the child draws another inscrutable
house.
21
Some Sestina Sites

• These sites have further explanations and
  examples
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sestina
• http//www.public.asu.edu/aarios/formsofverse/rep
  orts2000/page9.html
• http//www.uni.edu/gotera/CraftOfPoetry/sestina.h
  tml