Form in Poetry

1. Form in Poetry Sonnets, Pantoums, Villanelles

2. Sonnet Review • What are the two types of Sonnets? • Yes, Shakespearean and Petrarchan. • What are the defining characteristics of each of these forms?

3. Other Forms • Sonnets are not the only formal structure when writing form poetry • There are many types of forms, including haiku, sestina, triolet, pantoum and villanelle. • These are only some of the structures that are available for readers and writers of poetry • If you are interested in other types of structures, you should look them up sometime at www.poets.org

4. Pantoums • The modern pantoum is a poem of any length, composed of quatrains in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza. The last line of a pantoum is often the same as the first. • The modern pantoum does not rely on meter and rhythm, as sonnets do (iambic pentameter) • Rather, modern pantoums rely on the effect of repetition/refrain and how a repeating line can have different connotative meanings

5. Villanelles • Usually, the villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. • The form is made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain. • The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem's two concluding lines. • Like the pantoum, villanelles rely on rhyme and repetition more than meter

6. “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” • The refrain of the title line helps make clear the theme of this poem, that even though death is inevitable, one should fight and struggle against it • Another popular take on this poem is that one should fight to live to their fullest capacities, because death is inevitable • This poem, then, is not only an example of a villanelle but an example of a “Carpe Diem” poem • The latin phrase “Carpe Diem” is literally translated as “Seize the Day”

7. “Carpe Diem” • Poems, then, can be grouped by structure (sonnet, pantoum, etc) or by theme (love poems, poems about homework, etc) • There are many “Carpe Diem” poems that express thematically the sentiment that one must live life to its fullest, and never let moment slip away • The film “Dead Poet’s Society” also expresses the theme of “Carpe Diem” • As we watch the film over the next couple of days, take notes on instances where the theme of carpe diem is conveyed – How is the film similar to Dylan Thomas’s poem?