Villanelle Explained: What It Is and How to Write One

If you’ve seen a poem that repeats the same line over and over, you’re probably looking at a villanelle. It’s a French form that uses a tight pattern of repeating lines and a set rhyme scheme. The result feels musical, catchy, and a little hypnotic.

A villanelle always has 19 lines: five three‑line stanzas (called tercets) followed by a four‑line stanza (a quatrain). The trick is that two lines from the first stanza keep coming back throughout the poem. They appear as the final line of each tercet and then close the quatrain. The rhyme pattern is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAB. That means the first and third lines of every tercet rhyme with each other, and the second line rhymes with the second line of the quatrain.

How the Repeating Lines Work

When you start a villanelle, pick two strong lines that can stand on their own and also fit together later. Call them Line 1 and Line 2. They’ll appear like this:

• Stanza 1: Line 1 – A, Line 2 – B, New line – A
• Stanza 2: New line – A, New line – B, Line 1 – A
• Stanza 3: New line – A, New line – B, Line 2 – A
• … and so on until the final quatrain ends with Line 1 and Line 2 again.

This pattern creates a rhythm that pulls the reader’s attention back to the same ideas, making the poem feel like a chant.

Tips for Writing Your Own Villanelle

1. Choose a theme that can be repeated. Love, loss, time, or a memory work well because you can look at them from different angles while still using the same lines.

2. Write strong opening lines. They’ll be repeated six times, so they need to be clear, vivid, and emotionally resonant.

3. Keep the language simple. The repetition will magnify any awkward phrasing, so stick to words that flow naturally.

4. Plan your rhymes early. Since you need two rhyme sounds (A and B), decide them before you start filling in the new lines.

5. Use the repeats to build meaning. Let each return add a new shade of meaning. The first time a line appears it may feel straightforward, but later it can feel deeper because of what’s happened in between.

6. Read famous villanelles for inspiration. Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night” shows how the repeated lines can become a powerful plea. Another classic is “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, which turns the repeated line into a meditation on loss.

7. Don’t force it. If the form feels too restrictive, try a shorter variation or experiment with the repeats. The goal is to keep the poem feeling natural, not mechanical.

Writing a villanelle might seem tough at first, but the strict pattern actually gives you a roadmap. Follow the steps, play with the repeats, and you’ll end up with a poem that sounds like a song you can’t get out of your head.