![]() Regardless of its provenance, the form did not catch on in France, but it has become increasingly popular among poets writing in English. ![]() While some scholars believe that the form as we know it today has been in existence since the sixteenth century, others argue that only one Renaissance poem was ever written in that manner-Jean Passerat’s “Villanelle,” or “ J’ay perdu ma tourterelle”-and that it wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that the villanelle was defined as a fixed form by French poet Théodore de Banville. Rather, the title implied that, like the Italian and Spanish dance-songs, their poems spoke of simple, often pastoral or rustic themes. French poets who called their poems “villanelle” did not follow any specific schemes, rhymes, or refrains. During the Renaissance, the villanella and villancico (from the Italian villano, or peasant) were Italian and Spanish dance-songs. ![]() ![]() Strange as it may seem for a poem with such a rigid rhyme scheme, the villanelle did not start off as a fixed form. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2. The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem’s two concluding lines. ![]() The villanelle is a highly structured poem made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain, with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. ![]()
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