How to Write a Villanelle Poem

By Elisabeth TenBrink Kelley

     Here's an interesting poem type. It uses a type of stanza we haven't talked about before: the tercet. A tercet is simply a stanza with three lines, but they are used so little that Spell Check thinks it isn't a word at all.
     A villanelle has five tercets and then a quatrain, totaling 19 lines. The rhyme scheme is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA. So you basically have to accept the fact that you're going to be repeating words. Instead of one of my hastily-written example poems, we're going to use a poem old enough that we don't have to worry about copyright.


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 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.


     Well, I guess you could probably repeat words a little less than this one does. Anyway, because of the way the rhyme works, this is a very lyrical poetry form, and it sounds very traditional. Personally, I think it's really fun, and will likely attempt my own soon.
     Thank you for reading!


Elisabeth TenBrink Kelley is an aspiring author and poet. To learn more about her, see our About Us page. You can follow her on Twitter here: @ElisabethGTK.