Villanelle Poems

Popular Villanelle Poems

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

......

Luke Havergal

by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Go to the western gate, Luke Havergal,
There where the vines cling crimson on the wall,
And in the twilight wait for what will come.
The leaves will whisper there of her, and some,
Like flying words, will strike you as they fall;
But go, and if you listen she will call.
Go to the western gate, Luke Havergal--
Luke Havergal.

No, there is not a dawn in eastern skies

......

The House On The Hill

by Edwin Arlington Robinson

They are all gone away,
The house is shut and still,
There is nothing more to say.

Through broken walls and gray
The winds blow bleak and shrill:
They are all gone away.

Nor is there one today
To speak them good or ill:

......

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant

......

A Villanelle

by Oscar Wilde

O singer of Persephone!
In the dim meadows desolate
Dost thou remember Sicily?

Still through the ivy flits the bee
Where Amaryllis lies in state;
O Singer of Persephone!

Simaetha calls on Hecate
And hears the wild dogs at the gate;

......

Recent Villanelle Poems

Villanelles II by Michael R. Burch

by Michael R. Burch

These are villanelles by Michael R. Burch and and villanelle-like poems, including a new new poetic form I invented, the “trinelle” or “triplenelle.”

Villanelle: She Always Grew Roses
by Michael R. Burch

for my grandmother, Lillian Lee

Tell us, heart, what the season discloses.

......

Villanelles by Michael R. Burch

by Michael R. Burch

Villanelles by Michael R. Burch

These are villanelles by Michael R. Burch and related poetic forms with refrains, such as the rondel, roundel and rondeau.

Villanelle: The Divide
by Michael R. Burch

The sea was not salt the first tide...

......

The Cottage in the Blooms

by Evelyn Judy Buehler

The cottage near the wood is crowded in blooms,
Its creamy facade is enlivened with many hues;
And large vases of flowers grace several rooms.

Joy throughout the days with the delicate fumes,
and legendary exotic, natural splendor issues.
The cottage near the wood is crowded in blooms.

Redbirds sing gold sunshine, or of pearly moons,
Nature creates beautiful at the merest excuse,

......

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by Cole Huber

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by Cole Huber

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