Villanelle 1

After skipping last week, I return this week with the first example of the next poetry form I will be exploring: the villanelle.

The villanelle is a complex piece with which even masters of language have struggled. French in origin, (starting, according to some scholars as early as the 1600's) the form nevertheless failed to gain popularity in France, so few are written in French. Most are in fact written in English, and they began appearing regularly in the 18th century in that language.

Because the form was based on pastoral songs that were intended to be sung centuries ago, pastoral themes were common for villanelles at first. Yet from what I can gather, that theme has been largely abandoned in the English version of these verses. But do to the refrains, and the shortness of the form, many have concluded that a certain obsession with the subject matter is appropriate to the form.

One holdover from the form's roots as a song is the unique refrain structure. The first of five three-line stanzas begin and end with lines from the refrain. Each subsequent three line stanza ends with the first refrain, and then the second, alternating. The final stanza is a four lines, ending with a couplet which is a combination of the two refrains. The rhyme scheme itself, being something like A1-B-A2  A-B-A1  A-B-A2  A-B-A1 A-B-A2  A-B-A1-A2.

Even sounds complicated, doesn't it? I will say though that in practice it is easier to follow these rules than it is to explain them. No doubt it will be easier to follow once you read my sample. Or you can read what is argyably the most famous example of this form in English- "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", by Dylan Thomas.

Thomas uses iambic pentameter in that piece. Iambic octometer is also used, and that is what I have tried to utilize in my first sample below. However, I've been reading several articles about the villanelle in the two weeks since I last posted here, and from all I can tell there is not now, nor was there ever a definitive rule for the length of the actual lines. Some say eight feet, some say ten. Some articles come out and claim that line length has never mattered. In other words, unlike haiku, there is not "purest" form that I can find for the villanelle in regards to meter of the individual lines. So I will be exploring various meters, with no particular order or consideration. Any given villanelle may have lines of eight feet. Some may have ten. Some will ignore line length entirely. I will, in short confine myself to the rhyme scheme and refrain. (That should be enough to keep my hands full most of the time.)

I also read that slight variations in the refrain are encouraged. I may engage in that at times, if the piece can be made better by it. Yet to me, the very purpose of a refrain is to keep is the same, and I will try to keep my refrains identical.

What follows, I kept to iambic octometer, probably because that is the meter of the first villanelle I happened to study for this exploration took on. This is not my first ever villanelle. I wrote one once, long ago, that looking back seems to have had some kind of different structure than what I have described. I will have to dig that one out and have a look again.

But for now, here is the first in this exploration. Octometer proved tricky, but I think it works here. I don't however think I will pursue it again, unless two excellent phrases that fit it should arise in my imagination.

*

Retain forever thoughts of me.
Think fondly of me every day.
I'll love you for eternity.

See what others will not see.
Do not turn your face away.
Retain, forever, thoughts of me.

Remember when I brought you glee,
And when one night you heard me say
"I'll love you for eternity."

Defy what others would decree;
"Avoid him. You must stay away."
Retain, forever, thoughts of me.

There is but one reality.
Advice from others holds no sway.
I'll love you for eternity.

My thoughts in perpetuity
Return to you in every way.
Retain, forever, thoughts of me.
I'll love you for eternity.