villanelle

a traditional form poetry called villanelle can be fun to write.
for at least three hundred years villanelles have been around.
villanelles seem to have roots in native songs because of their frequent refrains and complex rhymiue stanza rhyming couplets in the first stanza has a
the second line rhymes with the middle line you added. this is the key to the poem form.
repeating the couplets.

The first thing a villanelle poem need is a pair of rhyming lines which are the heart of your poem's meaning. Here are the two key lines.

no more suffering from red ashes in the night
and the man in the shadows wait, for the quieting light

put an unrhymed line between these two lines to make a three lined stanza.

your next stanza will begin with a line that rhymes with your couplet which is a line that rhymes with the middle line you added to your couplet (now you have the key to villnella) the first line of the couplet repeated in all six stanzas.

your next stanza will have a first line that rhymes with "night" and "light," followed by a line rhyming with "rain," then you will repeat the second line of the couplet.

your base couplets become more and more meaningful with each repetition. so your careful choice of couplets is very important for the success of thus form.

though not very good poetry, this poem I wrote for practice shows how the poem goes on this way for a total of five three lined stanzas alternating the couplets then ending the sixth stanza with the second line of the stanza once again.

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my sample poem; inspired by the death of a 10 year old girl this morning and her 11 year brother (brain dead) on life support tonight.
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there is no suffering from red ashes in the night
when waterfalls on sad faces, drop as rain
and the man in the shadows wait, for the quieting light

a family aware in their hearts, struggle with right
as the new moon, unseen hangs in vain
there is no suffering from red ashes in the night

doctors ran the race aganist the forces of time
to save the lives of two burned babes
and the man in the shadows wait, for the quieting light

the children cling to life in pain, lost the fight
several days of battling burning rage
there is no suffering from red ashes in the night

a craze jealous boyfriend set the night afire
block the door, set the kids ablaze
and the man in the shadows wait, for the quieting light

neighbors fight smoke inhaled, to save young lives
from a fiery tomb created in hate
no more suffering from red ashes in the night
and the man in the shadows wait, for the quieting light