How to Write a Villanelle Poem
Introduction to Structured Poetry When I was a young writer, structured poetry didn't appeal to me. I was too busy getting the passion onto the page to stop and craft those words into a meaningful structure. But in 2011, a writing teacher introduced me to the idea of poetry structure. For six months, a group of Yarra Ranges writing students picked apart their work and put it back together again; into a range of poetry styles. I've always enjoyed rhyme, but I didn't think I'd appreciate being told how to order my lines. But instead of being eye-rolling bored, I felt refreshed by the content. It gave me additional ways to express my words; that, to my surprise, I found intriguing rather than tedious. Since that course, I've written poetry in a range of styles – many of them made up – but I often come back to the villanelle poem. The villanelle is sometimes known as a villanesqe poem, and is of French origin. It is a six stanza poem of nineteen lines, divided into fiv