Villanelles

1
Villanelles

• Not just for stuffy old men

2
History

• Started as ballad, songs
• Translated villanelle means country song
• Known as a French form of poetry but most
  villanelles are written in English.

3
The Form

• It is a rhyme-and-refrain pattern consisting of 5
  tercets and one quatrain at the end.
• The rhyme throughout the 5 tercets is ABA and the
  quatrain at the end is ABAA.
• There is a refrain of A1 and A2 throughout the
  poem.
• A1 and A2 represent a word that is repeated at
  the end of certain lines

4
A Closer Look

• Refrain 1 (A1)
• Line 2 (b)
• Refrain 2 (A2)
• Line 4 (a)
• Line 5 (b)
• Refrain 1 (A1)
• Line 7 (a)
• Line 8 (b)
• Refrain 2 (A2)
• Line 10 (a)
• Line 11 (b)
• Refrain 1 (A1)
• Line 13 (a)
• Line 14 (b)
• Refrain 2 (A2)
• Line 16 (a)
• Line 17 (b)
• Refrain 1 (A1)
• Refrain 2 (A2)

5
An Example!

• The jargon of poetry can be confusing so lets
  look at an example from Sylvia Plath

6
Mad Girls Love Song by Sylvia Plath

• I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead
• I lift my lids and all is born again.
• (I think I made you up inside my head.)
• The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
• And arbitrary blackness gallops in
• I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
• I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
• And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
• (I think I made you up inside my head.)
• God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade
• Exit seraphim and Satan's men
• I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
• I fancied you'd return the way you said,
• But I grow old and I forget your name.
• (I think I made you up inside my head.)
• I should have loved a thunderbird instead
• At least when spring comes they roar back again.
• I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
• (I think I made you up inside my head.)

7
Your turn!

• Take your copy of Mad Girls Love Song and, using
  the rhyme and refrain pattern, diagram the poem
  with the people at your table.
• Be ready to discuss and defend your answers.
• You have 5 minutes.

8
Test your knowledge

• Read the poem with the people at your table
• Determine whether the poem is or is not a
  villanelle
• Use what you know about the definition of a
  villanelle to support your answer
• You will have 5 minutes

9
You be the Author!

• Using a lap top from the cart write a villanelle.
• I am not concerned with your abilities as a
  writer, I am only looking for you to follow the
  guidelines of the Villanelle (rhyme and refrain)