English Literature / Unit 1 ENL 0036 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Villanelle and Other Fixed Forms
Captions available
The idea
A villanelle is nineteen lines: five tercets and a quatrain, on two rhymes, with two refrains. The first and third lines alternate as the last line of each tercet and close the poem together. Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" is the glossary's example.
In practice
Nineteen lines, two refrains.
Where people slip
The refrains carry the meaning by repetition.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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