Poetry Notes: Villanelle and Terza Rima
Wednesday, May 8, 2013 A.P. English Literature Some things I want to go over with you before the test: The villanelle is a fixed form in poetry. It has six stanzas: five tercets (verses of three lines each, with the rhyme scheme aba), ending with a final quatrain (four line verse). It utilizes two refrains: The first and the last lines of the first stanza alternates as the last line of the next four stanzas and then forms a final couplet in the quatrain. An excellent example of a villanelle is “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas (page 871 in ENGLAND in Literature). Dylan Thomas was the premiere poet of Wales, noted for his outrageous drinking and carousing as well as brilliant poetry. His poetry was noted for its musicality, with the words selected (in some of his plays) more for their beauty of sound rather than for their absolute meaning. The following poem was wri...