Case 02: Villanelle
It is said, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Like a courageous baby learning to walk, PoeticAfrica took the first step to present to us about structured poetry. Oftentimes, structured poetry seems hard and complicated to follow and understand. What if we chose to learn and explore these structures in a simple way that we can appreciate? In our previous edition, we began this journey by looking at the Ghazal poem. In this edition we focus on the Villanelle poem, what it is, how it is structured and how ideas should flow in each stanza.
Read – Introduction to Structured Poetry by Christina Lwendo, Tanzania
What is Villanelle?
A villanelle is a poem of a great structure that was mostly used in dance songs carrying pastoral themes. The word Villanelle comes from an Italian word “Villano” to mean “peasant.” A villanelle has 19 lines and follows a fixed form. The fixed form has five tercets and a quatrain. This means that, the first 15 lines will be tercets and the last stanza will be a quatrain. A tercet is a stanza made up of three lines while a quatrain is made up of four lines.
Read – Basics of Literary Review and Critique by Akinrinade Funminiyi Isaac, Nigeria
A Breakdown of the Villanelle
A villanelle is divided into three segments or parts. The first begin the introduction, the second is the development and the last one is the conclusion. The idea of the villanelle is to build intensity and tone of the poem as you move from one segment to the other. The villanelle has widely been used in songs because of its nature of repeated lines to soften the typical repetition of traditional forms. The structure of a villanelle is as follows:
Line 1 (a) (A1)
Line 2 (b)
Line 3 (A2)
Line 4 (a)
Line 5 (b)
Line 6 (A1)
Line 7 (a)
Line 8 (b)
Line 9 (A2)
Line 10 (a)
Line 11 (b)
Line 12 (A1)
Line 13 (a)
Line 14 (b)
Line 15 (A2)
Line 16 (a)
Line 17 (b)
Line 18 (a) (A1)
Line 19 (b) (A2)
Note 1: Letters ‘a’ and ‘b’ show the rhyming scheme and ‘A1’ and ‘A2’ denote the refrain 1 and refrain 2 respectively. A refrain simply means a repeating line in a poem. In this case, we are repeating the entire line. The refrains need to rhyme and interweave throughout the rest of the poem.
Note 2:
A villanelle has no specific meter structure
A villanelle has no specific number of syllables
Start by figuring out the refrains and the villanelle will be remembered by these repeating lines
Read – Poetry; Of Shapes and Symmetries by Patricia Peace Ejang, Uganda
EXAMPLE: Edmund Gosse’s Villanelle
Wouldst thou not be content to die
When low-hung fruit is hardly clinging,
And golden Autumn passes by?
Beneath this delicate rose-gray sky,
While sunset bells are faintly ringing,
Wouldst thou not be content to die?
For wintry webs of mist on high
Out of the muffled earth are springing,
And golden Autumn passes by.
O now when pleasures fade and fly,
And Hope her southward flight is winging,
Wouldst thou not be content to die?
Lest Winter come, with wailing cry
His cruel icy bondage bringing,
When golden Autumn hath passed by.
And thou, with many a tear and sigh,
While life her wasted hands is wringing,
Shalt pray in vain for leave to die
When golden Autumn hath passed by.
Chipo Chama is a Zambian published writer, visual artist and economist by profession. He is a writer of flash fiction, articles, short stories, novellas, and poetry. Chipo Chama is also a published author of two books, Tales of a Drunkard (poetry collection) and Silver lining. Some of his work has also been published in Arise Magazine, Glambiz Magazine, and Writers Space Africa (WSA) Magazine. He is a strong believer in collectively elevating the narrative and perception of African literature. He believes that African literature can be greater than it is today.
Chipo Chama Currently serves as the International African Writers Association (IAWA) Zambia president, Editor at PoetiAfrica Magazine, administrative assistant for Southern Writers Bureau (SWB), and Executive member for Poeticlub and Writing to the World. He also works as a creative writing skills trainer for several schools in Lusaka.
