rejuVenated and liVely

is for Villanelle

This is another fixed form that is a favourite because of its musicality.  If ever a form emphasised the point that poetry should be declaimed/read out loud then villanelle is surely that fixed form.

Basically it consists of five tercets and one ending quatrain, so it is a 19 line poem.  It uses repetition and refrains for its structure and the rhyme scheme is a bi-rhyme that goes A¹bA² abA¹ abA² abA¹ abA² abA¹A², A¹ and A² being the repeated refrains.  Here’s my villanelle:

In the moment

The day is gone before I come awake

the phone alarm goes off at six o’clock;

dawn doesn’t happen at every day break.

The whirr of machines, the rubbish trucks’ brake

the early workers’ cycles bell the block;

the day is gone before I come awake.

The window curtains still remain opaque

the coffee gently bubbles steam and smoke;

dawn doesn’t happen at every day break.

Square meals are done; we each sit down and take

our usual fare in silence and small talk;

the day is gone before I come awake.

Doors open and shut, empty, the rooms ache

I turn the routine keys in routine locks;

dawn doesn’t happen at every day break.

From the past to this moment’s mistake

from six to ten to six in one fell stroke.

The day is gone before I come awake,

dawn doesn’t happen at every day break.

The form is a recent one and has made its way from the French into English only in the 19^th century.  The original word comes from Italian for “country song” where it had no fixed form for a long time.  The strict bi-rhyme format was devised in the 19^th century, but most modernists turned up their noses at it. It was revived and came into its own only in the 1930’s.  Many modern poets have written villanelles, such as Sylvia Plath and  Dylan Thomas. 

Posted for the A-Z Challenge.