1. Sonnet, Villanelle, Sestina
Closed Form Poetry
Sonnet, Villanelle, Sestina

2. What is closed form poetry?
Closed form poetry, (it’s also referred to as fixed form), consists of poems that follow strict patterns of lines, meter, rhymes and stanzas. When writing a closed form poem, you must follow specific rules to fit a particular model.
There are many types of closed form poems. The ones we will be exploring are:
The Sonnet
The Villanelle
The Sestina

3. The Sonnet
A sonnet has a few building blocks. Let’s examine them.
1. A sonnet has 14 lines.
These lines are divided into 2 sections:
The first section is called an octet (8 lines)
The second section is called a sestet (6 lines)

4. } OCTET } SESTET “Another Sonnet for Stephen” ~ Alvin Lester Sitomer
I see a little boy of four or five
Whose face lights up whenever we would play
Who made me feel it’s great to be alive
And wish that time would never tick away.
I see a college youth who goes to Penn,
Strong and handsome, smart in mind and dress,
Enthusiastic, kind, who scores a “ten,”
Possessing every trait that spells success.
I see a man who came from both those boys
Creating business plans and path to wealth
With nonchalance, with skill and unique poise
While fighting back attackers of his health.
The boy, the youth, the man are now each gone,
Except that in my heart they linger on. }
OCTET }
SESTET

5. 2. Each line in a sonnet has a special rhythm
The rhythm is evidenced by an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
For example:
I see a little boy of four or five
Whose face lights up whenever we would play
(The stressed syllables are bolded above.)
Feel the rhythm: Notice that each unstressed syllable is immediately followed by a stressed syllable.

6. I see a lit tle boy of four or five
3. Each line in a sonnet has a special length. To measure this length you must count the number of “iambs”.
For example:
I see a little boy of four or five
These are the iambs:
I see a lit tle boy of four or five
4. In a sonnet there are five iambs to each line. This is called a “pentameter”. Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter

7. Quick Review
Sonnets are 14 lines in length
A sonnet is made up of an octet (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines)
Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter because each line has a special rhythm and a special length
An iamb equals 1 unstressed syllable plus one stressed syllable
There are 5 iambs in each line of a sonnet, thus it is called a “pentameter”

8. 5. The rhyming scheme of the octet is: ABABCDCD
For example:
I see a little boy of four or five (A)
Whose face lights up whenever we would play (B)
Who made me feel it’s great to be alive (A)
And wish that time would never tick away. (B)
I see a college youth who goes to Penn, (C)
Strong and handsome, smart in mind and dress, (D)
Enthusiastic, kind, who scores a “ten,” (C)
Possessing every trait that spells success. (D)

9. 6. The sestet rhyming scheme is generally EFEFGG
For example:
I see a man who came from both those boys (E)
Creating business plans and path to wealth (F)
With nonchalance, with skill and unique poise (E)
While fighting back attackers of his health. (F)
The boy, the youth, the man are now each gone, (G)
Except that in my heart they linger on. (G)

10. 7. The last two lines are a “heroic couplet”
7. The last two lines are a “heroic couplet”. A heroic couplet is a two line thought which summarizes all of the poem’s earlier lines.
For example:
The boy, the youth, the man are now each gone,
Except that in my heart they linger on.

11. Review
A sonnet is 14 lines long
It is comprised of an octet and a sestet
They are written in iambic pentameter because each line has a special rhythm and a special length
An iamb equals one unstressed syllable and one stressed syllable
There are five iambs in each line of a sonnet, thus is it called a “pentameter”
The octet rhyme scheme is ababcdcd
The sestet rhyme scheme is efefgg
The last two lines are a heroic couplet
The heroic couplet is a two line thought summarizing all of the poem’s earlier lines

12. The Villanelle
The Villanelle’s building blocks:
1. The villanelle consists of 19 lines.
2. The lines are divided into 5 tercets.
3. A tercet is a 3 lines stanza.
For example:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the night.

13. 4.The villanelle ends in a quatrain.
A quatrain is a 4 line stanza.
For example:
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.

14. “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” ~ Dylan Thomas
     Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
     Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
     Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
     Because their words had forked no lightning they
     Do not go gentle into that good night.
     Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
     Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
     Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
     And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
     Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
     Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
     And you, my father, there on the sad height,
     Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

15. 5. The rhyme scheme is:
ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA
6. Certain lines are repeated throughout the poem.
The first line repeats itself at lines, 6, 12, and 18.
Example:
Do not go gentle into that good night
The third line repeats itself at lines 9, 15, an 19.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

16. Villanelle Review
1. The villanelle consists of 19 lines.
2. The lines are divided into 5 tercets.
3. A tercet is a 3 lines stanza.
4. The villanelle ends in a quatrain
5. The rhyme scheme is: ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA
6. Certain lines are repeated throughout the poem:
The first line repeats itself at lines, 6, 12, and 18.
The third line repeats itself at lines 9, 15, an 19.

17. The Sestina does not have a definite rhyme scheme like the sonnet and the villanelle. It consists of:
39 lines
The lines are divided into 6 six-line stanzas (sestets)
It concludes in a 3 line stanza (tercet)
The sestina is unique in one difficult aspect: the poet must repeat the final words in each of the first 6 lines in every line for the rest of the poem. Then, all 6 words must reappear again in the final tercet.

18. “Sestina” ~ by Elizabeth Bishop
September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.
She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,
It's time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle's small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tidying up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac
on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.
It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the almanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmother.
But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house.
Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.