📚 Topic Summary
Villanelles and sestinas are intricate poetic forms characterized by their repetitive use of lines and specific stanza structures. A villanelle consists of nineteen lines with five tercets and a concluding quatrain, using only two rhymes throughout. The first and third lines of the first tercet recur alternately as refrains at the end of the other tercets and together as the final two lines of the quatrain. A sestina also uses repetition, but of six end-words rather than lines. The six words are repeated in a specific pattern through six stanzas of six lines each, followed by a three-line envoy that incorporates all six words. Mastering these forms requires careful attention to line repetition and thematic development.
📝 Part A: Vocabulary
Match the terms on the left with their definitions on the right.
| Term |
Definition |
| 1. Tercet |
A. The concluding three-line stanza of a sestina. |
| 2. Quatrain |
B. The repetition of lines or words in a poem. |
| 3. Refrain |
C. A stanza consisting of four lines. |
| 4. Envoy |
D. A stanza consisting of three lines. |
| 5. Repetition |
E. A line or phrase that is repeated throughout a poem, especially at the end of a stanza. |
✍️ Part B: Fill in the Blanks
Complete the following paragraph with the correct terms from the word bank below.
A villanelle is a nineteen-line poem composed of five ________ and a final ________. Two lines are used as ________, repeated in a specific pattern. A sestina is a poem of six stanzas with six lines each, followed by a three-line ________ which includes all six end-words.
Word Bank: tercets, quatrain, refrains, envoy
🤔 Part C: Critical Thinking
How does the structure of a villanelle or sestina contribute to the poem's overall meaning or effect? Provide an example to support your answer.