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Skeat: Villanelle
VILLANELLE
(How to compose a villanelle, which is said to require
'an elaborate amount of care in production, which those
who read only would hardly suspect existed'.)
It's all a trick, quite easy when you know it,
As easy as reciting ABC;
You need not be an atom of a poet.
If you've a grain of wit, and want to show it,
Writing a villanelle—take this from me—
It's all a trick, quite easy when you know it.
You start a pair of rimes, and then you fc go it'
With rapid-running pen and fancy free;
You need not be an atom of a poet.
Take any thought, write round it or below it,
Above or near it, as it liketh thee;
It's all a trick, quite easy when you know it.
Pursue your task, till, like a shrub, you grow it,
Up to the standard size it ought to be;
You need not be an atom of a poet.
Clear it of weeds, and water it, and hoe it,
Then watch it blossom with triumphant glee.
It's all a trick, quite easy when you know it;
You need not be an atom of a poet.
w. w. SKEAT
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