My Lone Attempt at Villanelle

Discussion in 'Poetry' started by chiefburningtoke, Dec 5, 2009.

  1. chiefburningtoke

    chiefburningtoke Member

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    Wind is hard on trees
    Like gymnasts they bend down
    The world Id like to seize

    The sun drills between the leaves
    A necklace forms in clouds
    You cannot hold the breeze

    A storm builds and flees
    Like a bully it backs down
    The world Id like to seize

    Why does a summer day please
    Bright coin in the slot of time
    You cannot hold the breeze

    These days of baffled birds and bees
    In just the frenzy of the dance
    The world Id like to seize

    The sun isn’t fair
    As the wind goes nowhere
    The world Id like to seize
    You cannot hold the breeze






    Hopefully you're not now saying-thank God that's his only attempt!!
     
  2. Zorba The Grape

    Zorba The Grape Gavagai?

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    The rhyming seems forced. Since you're shooting for villanelle, I can't advise you to drop it, but maybe work to improve the rhyming a bit.
     
  3. isoisidorus

    isoisidorus Member

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    line 15 could be "the world is in a trance"
    however that would make it a different poem.
     
  4. caliente

    caliente Senior Member

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    Well, I do love language and the elegant manipulation of it. And while you've made a game stab at it, I think in their strict classical forms, things like villanelles and sonnets, etc., are so difficult to do well that I wonder if they're worth the effort. That's unless of course your last name happens to be Shakespeare or Keats or some such.

    I remember being in a class years ago where the prof wanted us to write a poem where the first letter of each line spelled out some phrase. I forget the poetic term for that, but I thought at the time that it was a rather silly exercise. Not one reader in a hundred would get it without being prompted, and I didn't see how it contributed to the message anyway.

    Same with villanelles, as far as I'm concerned.

    Just my opinion. I like most of your work, chief. Just not this one, particularly :)
     
  5. chiefburningtoke

    chiefburningtoke Member

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    Actually I have had pretty good luck with the sonnet form-but villanelle is something you would have to practice for years to be able to weave meaning into its awkward yet very musical form. spanish would be a better language for it...
     
  6. caliente

    caliente Senior Member

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    Do you write in Spanish???

    You should post some of your sonnets.
     
  7. Zorba The Grape

    Zorba The Grape Gavagai?

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    I think you're referring to acrostic poetry. I've read some good ones, and written a couple. They take a lot of time to get right.
     
  8. chiefburningtoke

    chiefburningtoke Member

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    me no speaky ...but I have read the originals with translation and you can see how much more musical they are
     
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