Poetry: Villanelle

Example of Villanelle: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage 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.

Note: In the last semester, during the last classes before our final examination, Miss Sheena gave us a lecture about the types of closed form in poetry. In this entry, I'll recall her lecture regarding one type of closed form which have attracted me the most and unconsciously I was encouraged to create my own one. It's a villanelle. As I tried to memorise with the help of the notes given by our beloved teacher, a villanelle is the form that we have inherited today, which comes from 16th ce French pastoral (adj: describes a piece of art, writing or music that represents the pleasant and traditional features of the countryside) poetry. Originally, pastoral poetry dealt with the lives of shepherds and shepherdesses. A villanelle was primarily used for light verse (for entertainment and isn't complex in its meaning). Features of a villanell are as follows:

1. consists of odd numbers of tercets (3 lines with end rhyme) - usually 5;
2. followed by one quatrain (4 rhymed or unrhymed lines) - called an ENVOI;
3. the rhyme scheme is aba for the tercets and abaa for the quatrain;
4. the first and third lines of the first stanza are repeated alternately as the last line of the following tercets and also make up the third and fourth lines of the quatrain.

And that will make it as a complete villanelle. Above is an example of a villanelle written by Dylan Thomas.


With love,

Qamar