Villanelle
Poetry Contest
This contest is to write in a classic form called the Villanelle, using any topic.
This poem form uses a rhyme scheme and a lot of repetition - there are 19 lines in total:
Five stanzas of three lines (tercets) with an ABA rhyme scheme
One stanza of four lines (quatrain) with an ABAA rhyme scheme
The first line of stanza 1 is repeated as the final line of stanza 2 and 4, and the third line of the final stanza.
The third line of stanza 1 is repeated as the final line of stanza 3 and 5, and the fourth line of the final stanza.
The villanelle originated as a simple ballad-like song without a fixed poetic form. The fixed-form villanelle, containing this dual-refrain and nineteen lines, originated from from Jean Passerat's 1606 poem "Villanelle (J'ay perdu ma Tourterelle)"
Arguably the most well known villanelle is Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night".
Due to the use of repetition, the villanelle is often used to deal with matters of obsession. I have found it to be an excellent tool to expand a micro poem into a larger one, seeing that two rhyming lines are repeated and form over 40% of the poem. A good way to go about creating a villanelle is to write the repeating lines first, and already putting them into a kind of template, then filling in the blank lines in between.
Let me finish this description with a quote from T. S. Eliot;
"to use very strict form is a help, because you concentrate on the technical difficulties of mastering the form, and allow the content of the poem a more unconscious and freer release"
The contest winner will win the full prize pool. This is a winner take all contest. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Thursday, April 15, 2021.
Full Contest Listing
This poem form uses a rhyme scheme and a lot of repetition - there are 19 lines in total:
Five stanzas of three lines (tercets) with an ABA rhyme scheme
One stanza of four lines (quatrain) with an ABAA rhyme scheme
The first line of stanza 1 is repeated as the final line of stanza 2 and 4, and the third line of the final stanza.
The third line of stanza 1 is repeated as the final line of stanza 3 and 5, and the fourth line of the final stanza.
The villanelle originated as a simple ballad-like song without a fixed poetic form. The fixed-form villanelle, containing this dual-refrain and nineteen lines, originated from from Jean Passerat's 1606 poem "Villanelle (J'ay perdu ma Tourterelle)"
Arguably the most well known villanelle is Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night".
Due to the use of repetition, the villanelle is often used to deal with matters of obsession. I have found it to be an excellent tool to expand a micro poem into a larger one, seeing that two rhyming lines are repeated and form over 40% of the poem. A good way to go about creating a villanelle is to write the repeating lines first, and already putting them into a kind of template, then filling in the blank lines in between.
Let me finish this description with a quote from T. S. Eliot;
"to use very strict form is a help, because you concentrate on the technical difficulties of mastering the form, and allow the content of the poem a more unconscious and freer release"
The contest winner will win the full prize pool. This is a winner take all contest. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Thursday, April 15, 2021.
