1. Bellwork
What is plaguing you lately? Complete a freewrite on something that you are emotionally tied to, and utilize imagery to express your thoughts.

2. History of the Form (Villanelle)
19th Century
Medieval and Renaissance villanelles were simple ballad-like songs with no fixed form or length
Songs were associated with the country, and were thought to be sung by farmers and shepherds

3. History of the Form (Villanelle)
The French word villanelle comes from the Italian word villanella, which derives from the Latin villa (farm) and villano (farmhand)
To any poet before the mid-nineteenth century the word villanelle or villanella would have simply meant “country song,” with no form implied

4. History of the Form (Villanelle)
Usually labeled “a French form,” but the majority of villanelles are written in English
Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night” is possibly the most renowned villanelle

5. Form of the Villanelle
No established meter, but most nineteenth-century villanelles had 8 or 6 syllables per line, and most twentieth-century villanelles have 10 syllables per line
Distinctive pattern of rhyme and repetition, with only two rhyme-sounds (“a” and “b”) and two alternating refrains that resolve into a concluding couplet

6. Fixed Modern Form Refrain 1 (a) Line 2 (b) Refrain 2 (a) Line 4 (a)

7. Fixed Modern Form
The 19 lines break down into 5 tercets, and a closing quatrain
The first 3 lines of the poem serve as the driving force
The first and third lines serving as alternate refrains to close the other four tercets
The two refrains join to finish the poem as a couplet
The final line of each tercet also rhymes with the first line of the following stanza, forming a repetitive rhyme
Villanelles can employ 8-11 syllables per line

8. Terminology
Tercet: a set or group of three lines of verse rhyming together or connected by rhyme with an adjacent tercet.
Quatrain: a stanza of four lines, especially one having alternate rhymes.
Couplet: two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, that form a unit.

9. How to Find Inspiration
If you have a theme that just won’t leave you alone, the type that won’t stay out of your head, a villanelle can possibly express those feelings

10. The Couplet is Key Lines 1 and 3 are the most important
They reoccur throughout and become the final couplet
If these lines aren’t strong, there is no strength to your poem
Write it backwards
Know how you want to end and build the verse from there

11. Theme Freewrite on your theme
Get all of your feelings out onto paper without holding back or self-editing
Be specific and relate to your deeper feelings, but also take space to be philosophic
Get to the essential question or problem
Somewhere there could be your two final lines

12. Rhyme The rhyming should feel natural
Most of the poem will rhyme with this couplet, so make it easy
Move lines around or look up synonyms if necessary
More effort should be put into this couplet than anything else in the poem
If this couplet is strong, then your poem will be powerful

13. Imagery This form wants to dwell on heavy themes
By nature, the villanelle goes over challenging thoughts of life, but be careful to not be too preachy or philosophical
A good poem makes the reader feel what you feel, not simply describes what you feel

14. Imagery Find a central image
What concrete metaphor embodies the emotions you are struggling with?
Complete another freewrite about the sensual (gratification of the senses) details
What texture do these ideas have?
How do they taste?
Get into the guts of your theme, and use sensory details to craft the remaining lines of your poem

15. Fill in the Blanks Once you have your two lines, you can move forward
Fill in the villanelle form with those two lines and look at the spaces that are left
You know how you want it to end, so how do you need to start? What will land between?
Consider a small topic for each stanza. Keep a common thread moving through the poem that is true to your central image

16. Fill in the Blanks
This is when you will decide how much to vary your repeated lines
Change as necessary to keep the logic and tense working- you will know if if the lines can remain the same

17. Give it Voice The poem should build power as it moves along
You should feel more tension coming into your voice without even trying
It should end with a bang
…if it doesn’t, keep trying until it does.

18. History of Concrete Poetry
Concrete poetry emerged simultaneously in Germany, in Sweden, and in Brazil in the early 1950s
It reached its peak in the 1960s, and gradually fizzled out in the early-mid 1970s
It is considered a more “rigidly defined” sub-genre of visual poetry

19. Concrete Poetry
Structure=content is one of the most famous and minimalist definitions of concrete poetry
It creatively operates with space as an additional expressive category by arranging words in non-linear patterns across the page
It begins by being aware of graphic space as structural agent
It is both textual and visual- a hybrid between text and image, and it forces readers to oscillate between reading and viewing modes

23. This Week’s Assignment
You will be writing a villanelle
It should include the following:
6 stanzas (5 tercets, 1 quatrain)
Rhyme scheme= aba, aba, aba, aba, aba, aba
Repetition of lines 1 and 3
Between 8 and 11 syllables
Good use of imagery
Development/building of theme

24. Independent Writing Possibility
Write a concrete poem
Make sure that you utilize a large enough graphic
Formulate your lines according to how they may fit
Try to make the words fit the best way possible