Mini-Genre Presentation: Villanelle

Villanelle

1. an example of the genre (and a brief personal narrative on the student's encounters with the genre).

-Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night (Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

-Mad Girl’s Love Song (Sylvia Plath (1932-1963))

2. typical and atypical conventions of the genre

-(typical) two refrains; AB rhyme scheme; Introduction (tercet), Development (2nd-4th tercets), Conclusion (final quatrain); opening tercets set off with two barreled refrains; tone grows in intensity throughout poem; nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain.

4. the content typically or atypically conveyed in the genre

-The villanelle has been noted as a form that frequently treats the subject of obsessions, and one which appeals to outsiders; its defining feature of repetition prevents it from having a conventional tone; Despite its French origins, the majority of villanelles have been written in English, a trend which began in the late nineteenth century

5. a brief description of the evolution of the genre -The form started as a simple ballad-like song with no fixed form; this fixed quality would come later from "Villanelle (J'ay perdu ma Tourterelle)" (1606) by Jean Passerat Despite its French origins, the majority of villanelles have been written in English, a trend which began in the late nineteenth century; The word villanelle derives from the Italian villanella, referring to a rustic song or dance,[2] and which comes from villano, meaning peasant or villein. Villano derives from the Medieval Latin villanus, meaning a "farmhand". The etymology of the word relates to the fact that the form's initial distinguishing feature was the pastoral subject.