Theodore Roethke

Most of the poems I\’ve posted here so far have been free verse– my usual preferred mode for both reading and writing poetry.  But this is one of the best examples I\’ve seen of the complicated villanelle form: a 19 line poem consisting of five three-line stanzas followed by a concluding four-line stanza.  Villanelles feature an ABA rhyme scheme, as well as two lines that repeat throughout, alternating as the last line of each stanza.  Got that? Complex structure aside, it\’s a beautiful poem, the last stanza of which makes for a good mantra.  Thanks to my...

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