Villanelle Poems

“Refrain returns—nineteen lines of intricate echo and resolve.”

TitleAuthorType of Poem
A BalladJonathan SwiftVillanelle
A Friend In NeedDora Sigerson ShorterVillanelle
A Good ManJames Whitcomb RileyVillanelle
A Holiday Song.Pamela S. Vining, (J. C. Yule)Villanelle
A Late Good NightRobert Fuller MurrayVillanelle
A Session With Uncle Sidney - III - Sings A "Winky-Tooden" SongJames Whitcomb RileyVillanelle
A SongErnest Christopher DowsonVillanelle
Ad Domnulam SuamErnest Christopher DowsonVillanelle
As I Laye A-Dreamynge. L'Envoi.Arthur Thomas Quiller-CouchVillanelle
Astrophel and Stella - First Song.Philip Sidney (Sir)Villanelle

Understanding Villanelle

A villanelle is a nineteen-line poem built on repetition and refrain. Its intricate structure turns the smallest thought or image into a haunting echo, looping back with musical precision.

Key characteristics of the villanelle form:

  • Structure: Five tercets (three-line stanzas) followed by one quatrain (four-line stanza), totaling nineteen lines.
  • Refrains: The first and third lines of the opening stanza alternate as the final lines of the subsequent stanzas—and then join together in the closing quatrain.
  • Rhyme Scheme: ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA — only two rhymes are used throughout the entire poem.
  • Musical Repetition: The recurring lines gain new shades of meaning as context shifts, creating emotional resonance.
  • Famous Examples: Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” and Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art.”

A villanelle is both disciplined and lyrical—a poetic dance between control and obsession, where meaning circles closer with each return.