The document describes the structure and characteristics of a villanelle, a nineteen-line poem composed of five tercets followed by a quatrain with two refrains. A villanelle has an alternating rhyme scheme and uses the same two lines as refrains, with one refrain closing the first and third lines of the first stanza, and then alternating at the close of subsequent stanzas until the final quatrain which uses both refrains. Famous poets who have written villanelles include Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden, and Elizabeth Bishop.

2. a nineteen-line poem made up of
five triplets with a closing
quatrain.
 Usually written in tetrameter

3.  The poem is characterized by having
two refrains, initially used in the first and
third lines of the first stanza, and then
alternately used at the close of each
subsequent stanza until the final
quatrain which is concluded by the two
refrains.

4.  the remaining lines of the poem have
an a-b alternating rhyme.
Poets of Villanelle:
 Dylan Thomas
 W.H. Auden and
 Elizabeth Bishop.

5. The Structure of the
Villanelle
Line 1 – a – 1st refrain
Line 2 – b
Line 3 – a – 2nd refrain
Line 4 – a
Line 5 – b
Line 6 – a – 1st refrain (same as line 1)
Line 7 – a
Line 8 – b
Line 9 – a – 2nd refrain (same as line 2)

6. Line 10 – a
Line 11 – b
Line 12 – a – 1st refrain (same as line 1)
Line 13 – a
Line 14 – b
Line 15 – a – 2nd refrain (same as line 2)
Line 16 – a
Line 17 – b
Line 18 – a – 1st refrain (same as line 1)
Line 19 – a - 2nd refrain (same as line 2)

7. EXAMPLE of
VILLANELLE

8. DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO
THAT GOOD NIGHT
Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage 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.

9. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved 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.