Villanelle: Definition, Famous Examples & How to Write One

A villanelle is a nineteen-line poem made up of two rhymes and two refrains. Its structure is quite strict: five tercets (three-line stanzas) followed by a closing quatrain (four-line stanza). The poem's first line serves as the first refrain (let's call it A1), while the third line acts as the second refrain (A2). These two lines alternate as the last lines of the five tercets, and then they come together as the final two lines of the quatrain. The rhyme scheme is A1bA2 / abA1 / abA2 / abA1 / abA2 / abA1A2 — where "a" represents the rhyme shared by the refrains and "b" is the poem's only other rhyme sound. While there are no strict rules for meter, English villanelles typically follow iambic pentameter. This is because the form's French and Italian origins lend it a musical, song-like quality that pentameter naturally provides. The form emerged in French Renaissance poetry and gained popularity through Jean Passerat in the late sixteenth century. It made a serious entrance into English poetry in the nineteenth century, when poets like Edmund Gosse and Austin Dobson embraced fixed French forms as a craft challenge. The villanelle remained a curiosity until Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night" (1951) demonstrated its potential to convey deep emotional resonance, rather than just showcasing technical skill. Since then, it has become one of the most frequently attempted fixed forms in English, as its relentless repetition reflects the true nature of grief, desire, and obsession — a thought that keeps coming back, looping through the same words until they take on new meaning.