Villanelle's Anyone?

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Maybe pun was the wrong word, though puns can work. Words with more than one meaning was really what I meant but was too lazy to write. It enables the meaning of the repeated lines to change with each reiteration, which can be fun. "

Awesome.  We completely agree on this then. It was just me being dense. IN fact, I might be wrong, but isn't that actually supposed to be part of the structure of the villanelle, that the refrains mean slightly different things throughout.

" I find that the form also works well with subject matter that is in some way circular (In musical terms I would mention the rondeau which keeps coming back to the same idea). "

I haven't tried a Rondeau in years, I think it might be time to revisit.

" The Dylan Thomas poem 'Do not go Gentle' comes to mind. In grief the mind keeps going over the same ground. I am planning to use the form for a poem about my Dad's dementia as it relates to an incident that happened recently for this reason. "

• stephan