3. The Villanelle

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, Stephanie talks about the villanelle, a poetic form that makes use of a complicated rhyme scheme and repeated lines - the famous example of which is perhaps Dylan Thomas' 'Do not go gentle into that good night'. Stephanie discusses Elizabeth Bishop's 'One Art', and explores the effects of repetition in poetry.

Course

In this course, we look at the use of form in poetry. The purpose of this course is to demonstrate the many ways in which the form of a poem can convey meaning. This includes the use forms that are traditionally associated with certain themes - such as the sonnet or the heroic couplet - as well as poetic devices such as rhyme, repetition and anaphora. Poems discussed in detail include: 'Design' (Robert Frost), 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' (Robert Frost), 'Because I could not stop for death' (Emily Dickinson), 'Squash Rackets' (Carmine Starnino), 'One Art' (Elizabeth Bishop), and 'The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart' (Jack Gilbert)

Lecturer

Stephanie Yorke is reading for a DPhil in English Literature at Wolfson College, Oxford. Her first collection of poetry was published by Signature Editions in April 2012. It's called 'Both Boys Climb Trees They Can't Climb Down'.