Today’s lesson will be very simple. I am going to demonstrate the Villanelle. It is a simple pattern and best explained by illustration.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
By Dylan Thomas
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 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,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieve it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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.
Okay what we’re noting here is the repetition of the lines and the rhyming scheme. The first and third lines of the original stanzas are used alternatively as the last lines in the next four stanzas. In the final stanza the last two lines are the first and third line of the first stanza. Finally the first and third lines of the stanzas all rhyme while the second lines of the stanzas rhyme as well.
Here is one I wrote.
True Love’s Call
By John Kaniecki
I hear at night my true love call
I know not any more precious sound
The sweetest of angels sometimes fall
My beauty, my soul, my passion, my all
I look to you for in you I’m found
I hear at night my true love call
I beg of you a kiss if but small
Let me help you to where you are bound
The sweetest of angels sometimes fall
You are a dream so fondly I recall
I perceive a whisper I chase round and round
I hear at night my true love call
Heaven without you stands not so tall
The essence of love now walks the ground
The sweetest of angels sometimes fall
On the cross for water they gave you gall
Why have you forsaken me, the words resound
I hear at night my true love call
The sweetest of angels sometimes fall
Also check out my poetry books.
