POETRY TERMS ~
- villanelle
- refrain
- French verse form
- consists of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain
- the first and third lines of the first stanza repeat alternately in the following stanzas
- these two refrain (repeat) lines form the final couplet in the quatrain
- Some Key Ideas to Consider with a Villanelle
- Any poem featuring a repetition or refrain has special qualities:
- How does each instance of the refrain add meaning to the poem? Perhaps it doesn't, but a great poem builds meaning. Refrains aren't simply included for the sake of form. Decide what the refrain means each time you see it.
- Does the refrain change at all? Even by one word? That is important; consider how the change nuances previously building meaning (synonymous, synthetic, or antithetic?).
Check out this fine example:
Whispering Woods ~ Villanelle
1 She peers into the forest fog
seeking another fairy face.
seeking another fairy face.
Fay hears bullfrogs in the bog.
4 There’s whispers of strange dialogue
slipping softly through cloistered space.
She peers into the forest fog.
7 An owl calls from his cedar log
and unsettles her sense of place.
Fay hears bullfrogs in the bog.
10 Far off, there’s the bay of a dog
whose master is on a coon chase.
She peers into the forest fog.
13 She wonders if the swamp polliwog
knows it has a change to embrace.
Fay hears bullfrogs in the bog.
16 There’s a quiet riot to catalogue
and she craves a calmer pace.
She peers into the forest fog
Fay hears bullfrogs in the bog.
So, what makes this a villanelle?
Now that you have a feel for the villanelle, here's your assignment:
**JOURNAL 22**
1. You will submit completed assignment to Classroom by midnight tonight.
2. Read each poem.
3. List the title of the poem and answer the question associated with each poem.
Poem #1
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas
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 good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Question: Why does the speaker give this advise to his father?
Poem #2
One Art
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
Question: Ask yourself: What is the art? Is it hard to master? Has the speaker mastered it? How do you know?
Poem #3
The Waking
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.
We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
What is that "thing" mentioned in Line 13? How do you know?
In one good sentence, come up with a theme for the poem.
Poem #4
The House on the Hill
They are all gone away,
The House is shut and still,
There is nothing more to say.
Through broken walls and gray
The winds blow bleak and shrill:
They are all gone away.
Nor is there one to-day
To speak them good or ill:
There is nothing more to say.
Why is it then we stray
Around the sunken sill?
They are all gone away,
And our poor fancy-play
For them is wasted skill:
There is nothing more to say.
There is ruin and decay
In the House on the Hill:
They are all gone away,
There is nothing more to say.
Question: Why does the speaker repeat himself if "There is nothing else to say"?
Poem #5
Self-Help
What kind of delusion are you under?
The life he hid just knocked you flat.
You see the lightning but not the thunder.
What God hath joined let no man put asunder.
Did God know you’d marry a rat?
What kind of delusion are you under?
His online persona simply stunned her
as it did you when you started to chat.
You see the lightning but not the thunder.
To the victors go the plunder:
you should crown them with a baseball bat.
What kind of delusion are you under?
The kind that causes blunder after blunder.
Is there any other kind than that?
You see the lightning but not the thunder,
and for one second the world’s a wonder.
Just keep it thrilling under your hat.
What kind of delusion are you under?
You see the lightning but not the thunder.
Question: In one good sentence, come up with a theme for the poem. Now back it up! Why should
I believe you? Why should I agree with you? PROVE IT! Use examples from the poem.
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