Villanelles consist of nineteen lines. There are five stanzas of three lines and the last stanza has four lines (also known as a quatrain).

There are a couple of rules for this type of poem:

1. The rhyme scheme only has two rhyming sounds:

ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA

2.  Line one repeats in lines six, 12, and 18

3. Line three repeats in lines nine, 15, and 19.

Villanelle[1]

By Victor James Daley

We said farewell, my youth and I,
When all fair dreams were gone or going,
And Love’s red lips were cold and dry.

When white blooms fell from tree-tops high,
Our Austral winter’s way of snowing,
We said farewell, my youth and I.

We did not sigh, what use to sigh
When Death passed as a mower mowing,
And Love’s red lips were cold and dry?

But hearing Life’s stream thunder by,
That sang of old through flowers flowing,
We said farewell, my youth and I.

There was no hope in the blue sky,
No music in the low winds blowing,
And Love’s red lips were cold and dry.

My hair is black as yet, then why
So sad! I know not, only knowing
We said farewell, my youth and I.

All are not buried when they die;
Dead souls there are through live eyes showing
When Love’s red lips are cold and dry.

So, seeing where the dead men lie,
Out of their hearts the grave-flowers growing,
We said farewell, my youth and I,
When Love’s red lips were cold and dry.

Try it yourself

Pick 2 lines to repeat:

1A

3A

Start writing:

1A

2B

3A

4A

5B

6 (1A)

7A

8B

9 (3A)

10A

11B

12 (1A)

13A

14B

15 (3A)

16A

17B

18 (1A)

19 (3A)

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[1] This poem is in the public domain