Writing a basic Villanelle

Writing a basic Villanelle

A Lesson by Zombified Spider
"

simple rhyme schemes with a simple setup and no double meanings

"

Setup:

Things to know:
A villanelle has 19 lines. 
line 1 and 3 recur at the end of each stanza. 
A stanza is 3 lines except for the last stanza which will consist of 4 lines. 
line 1 will rhyme with line 3. line 2 will rhyme with line 5. Line 1 and 3 will rhyme with line 4. 

Tips:
It helps to start out by labeling your lines. It will look like this:

1:
2:
3:

4:
5:
6(1):

7:
8:
9(3):

10:
11:
12(1):

13:
14:
15(3):

16:
17:
18(1):
19(3):

Writing your Villanelle:

Figure out lines 1 and 3 before writing out the rest of the poem.
Fill them in first

Here is an example:
1: Day dream, it's all green showers
2:
3: I fell asleep among the flowers

4:
5:
6(1): Day dream, it's all green showers

7:
8:
9(3): I fell asleep among the flowers

10:
11:
12(1): Day dream, it's all green showers

13:
14:
15(3): I fell asleep among the flowers

16:
17:
18(1): Day dream, it's all green showers
19(3): I fell asleep among the flowers

Filling in the rest:
In the case of rhyming scheme, again,
Lines 2,5, 8, 11, 14, and 17 will all rhyme
Lines 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16 will all rhyme
Line 3 will be repeated on lines 9, 15, and 19
Line 1 will be repeated on lines 6, 12, and 18

In the end it will look like this:

1: Day dream, it's all green showers
2: I never hit the floor
3: I fell asleep among the flowers

4: I saw oblivion for all hours
5: There was peace in war
6(1): Day dream, it's all green showers

7: I felt no eyes from towering watchtowers
8: Saw everything and nothing from folklore
9(3): I fell asleep among the flowers

10: All that time devours
11: I cut myself on the glass covering the seashore
12(1): Day dream, it's all green showers

13: I saw the sweet smelling corpse flowers 
14: and never looked outdoor
15(3): I fell asleep among the flowers

16: I covered myself in wallflowers
17: And fell where there was no trapdoor
18(1): Day dream, it's all green showers
19(3): I fell asleep among the flowers

And there you go! that's a basic villanelle.


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How to write a Villanelle


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Added on April 11, 2025
Last Updated on April 11, 2025
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Zombified Spider
Zombified Spider

PA



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"we're all just dancing on the devil's dance floor" -Devil's dance floor by flogging molly FYI I fractured my left thumb playing Ice Hockey and cannot consistently write for a while. I'm a big..
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