Will’s Poetry Blog

Thom Ingram challenged a bunch of us to write a Villanelle this week. I have had no idea what that was. It sounded evil though.

Anyway, I decided to take him up on it, since I keep breaking promises to write and share more poetry. Here’s the details from a posting on his website:

The lines are grouped into five tercets and a concluding quatrain. Thus a Villanelle has 19 lines.

• Lines may be of any length.

• The Villanelle has two rhymes. The rhyme scheme is aba, with the same end-rhyme for every first and last line of each tercet and the final two lines of the quatrain.

• Two of the lines are repeated:

1. 1.The first line of the first stanza is repeated as the last line of the second and the fourth stanzas, and as the second-to-last line in the concluding quatrain.
2. 2.The third line of the first stanza is repeated as the last line of the third and the fifth stanzas, and as the last line in the concluding quatrain.

Sounds relatively complicated, but it isn’t really if you see one (copyright Thom Ingram):

1. On the strings I strike an awkward chord,

2. a rhythm with uneven time.

3. But playing is it’s own reward.

4. When I find myself bored

5. I let my fingers climb

6. on the strings. I strike an awkward chord.

7. I would be an awful knight, whose sword

8. in the sunlight would never shine

9. But playing is it’s own reward.

10. and lets the weary ward

11. off evil spirits, quieted while I mime

12. on the strings. I strike an awkward chord.

13. I know, no one will never record

14. these cock-eyed notes, these off kilter chimes.

15. But playing is it’s own reward,

16. and the boy, the silly boy who tries is adored

17. for taking a shot, for taking the time.

18. On the strings I strike an awkward chord,

19. But playing is it’s own reward.

So, that’ll be my project for the rest of the week. I’ll post any versions I have daily.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Challenge, Formalism, Villanelle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.