AP Literature and Composition

The villanelle, purely due to its general form, automatically provides a tone of power and significance. It is much like how the I-V-vi-IV chord progression weaves through much of pop music, giving emotional weight to songs, regardless of their other aspects. I find that the Thomas, Plath, and Auden poems particularly create an eerie mood. Perhaps it’s their serious themes, as opposed to Wilde’s general lightheartedness. But more convincing is that the repetition on its own brings to mind an insane person repeating thoughts continuously, obsessed with a single idea that prevents him or her from seeing the broader context of his or her life. Wilde’s villanelle, on the other hand, uses repetition to present a beseeching of a god, which also upon further reflection brings me a similar sense of eeriness, due to my association of prayer with helplessness.

What I liked about the villanelles is that they were straightforward in meaning and style. By that I mean it was easy to follow along because the structure was very concise, and the repetition allowed me to understand the meaning continuously throughout the poem. Each villanelle was structured to have six stanzas, each having three lines while the last stanza had four. I found it more enjoyable to follow this structure and I could understand the pattern of the poem this way. Each time the last line of the first and second stanza was repeated, it put emphasis on the topic of the poem and tied it all together in the end. Overall I like the style of villanelles because unlike some other forms of poetry, this one is very organized and the meaning doesn’t get lost.