THE VILLANELLE
I don't know if I should explain what a villanelle is. As I didn't know until I read Stephen Fry's book 'The Ode Less Travelled' no more than a year ago I can probably assume that many of my readers do not know. For those that do, please forgive me if I offer a few words by way of explanation. It is an old form going back as much as four centuries. Some say the origin is French. Mr Fry says the place of origin is Sicily. Probably the most famous villanelle in modern literature is Dylan Thomas' 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night'. If you look at the structure of that most exquisite of poems you will see that it has six stanzas, five of which have three lines the sixth having four. In the first verse of this poem you will see that lines 1 and 3 set the theme of the poem, they are refrains - they come back again and again, they rhyme with each other and they are repeated in the stanzas that follow, one at a time. Line 2 in the first verse is the start of a development that continues through the middle of verses 2,3,4,5 and the second line of verse 6. All of those 'middle' lines rhyme but not with the same rhyme as the refrains. At the end of verse 6 the refrains come together to conclude the piece.
Fry makes light of it, saying it is harder to describe a villanelle than write one. Well, he is Stephen Fry and he is a genius. I'm not. I found what follows to be extraordinarily difficult to write. The rhyming is a constant pull towards banality and banal is not what a villanelle should be; it's a serious form. Nevertheless, it is hugely satisfying to finish a villanelle and to look at it, over and over again, and realise that maybe - just maybe - you have captured what you wanted to say and have managed to say it within one of the most demanding frameworks that exists in literature.
Villanelle For An Older Man
He does not want to act his age.
He is inside looking out.
His make-up does not suit this stage.
His etched lines make up his cage.
He wants to scream, he wants to shout.
He does not want to act his age.
His many years have made him sage
And so he knows, beyond a doubt,
His make-up does not suit this stage.
A constant fight for him to wage,
He wants sweet things, not sauerkraut.
He does not want to act his age.
He scans his memories, page by page,
And lusts for this erotic roundabout.
His make-up does not suit this stage.
This part of life does him outrage,
So dull convention he will flout.
He does not want to act his age.
His make-up does not suit this stage.
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