Editing Sestina (section)

==Form==
[[File:Sestina system alt.svg|thumb|400px|right|Graphical representation of the algorithm for ordering the end-words in a sestina]]

Although the sestina has been subject to many revisions throughout its development, there remain several features that define the form. The sestina is composed of six stanzas of six lines (sixains), followed by a stanza of three lines (a [[tercet]]).<ref name="Preminger 1993, p. 1146" /><ref name="Fry 2007, p. 231">Fry 2007, p. 231</ref> There is no rhyme within the stanzas;<ref name="Spanos 1978, p. 546">Spanos 1978, p. 546</ref> instead the sestina is structured through a recurrent pattern of the words that end each line,<ref name="Preminger 1993, p. 1146" /> a technique known as "lexical repetition".<ref name="Fry 2007, p. 232">Fry 2007, p. 232</ref>

In the original form composed by Daniel, each line is of ten [[syllable]]s, except the first of each stanza which are of seven.<ref name="Kastner 1903, p. 284">Kastner 1903, p. 284</ref> The established form, as developed by Petrarch and Dante, was in [[hendecasyllable]]s.<ref name="Gasparov 1996, p. 159" /> Since then, changes to the line length have been a relatively common variant,<ref name="Strand et al., 2001, p. 24">Strand et al., 2001, p. 24</ref> such that [[Stephanie Burt]] has written: "sestinas, as the form exists today, [do not] require expertise with inherited meter&nbsp;...".<ref name="Burt 2007, p. 222">Burt 2007, p. 222</ref>

The pattern that the line-ending words follow is often explained if the numbers 1 to 6 are allowed to stand for the end-words of the first stanza. Each successive stanza takes its pattern based upon a bottom-up pairing of the lines of the preceding stanza (i.e., last and first, then second-from-last and second, then third-from-last and third).<ref name="Preminger 1993, p. 1146" /> Given that the pattern for the first stanza is 123456, this produces 615243 in the second stanza, numerical series which corresponds, as [[Paolo Canettieri]] has shown, to the way in which the points on the [[dice]] are arranged.<ref name=Canettieri>{{cite book|last=Canettieri|first=Paolo|title=Il gioco delle forme nella poesia dei trovatori|year=1996|publisher=Il Bagatto|location=Rome|isbn=88-7806-095-X}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2023}} This genetic hypothesis is supported by the fact that Arnaut Daniel was a strong dice player and various images related to this game are present in his poetic texts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Germini |first=Simone |date=2014-10-08 |title=Arnaut Daniel, il giocatore |url=https://imalpensanti.it/2014/10/arnaut-daniel-il-giocatore/ |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=iMalpensanti |language=it-IT}}</ref>

[[File:Sestina system retrogradatio cruciata.svg|thumb|300px|right|''Retrogradatio cruciata'': The pattern of end-words in one stanza of a sestina, relative to the previous stanza]]

Another way of visualising the pattern of line-ending words for each stanza is by the procedure known as ''retrogradatio cruciata'', which may be rendered as "backward crossing".<ref name="Krysl 2004, p. 9">Krysl 2004, p. 9</ref> The second stanza can be seen to have been formed from three sets of pairs (6–1, 5–2, 4–3), or two triads (1–2–3, 4–5–6). The 1–2–3 triad appears in its original order, but the 4–5–6 triad is reversed and superimposed upon it.<ref name="Shapiro 1980 pp. 7–8">Shapiro 1980 pp. 7–8</ref>

The pattern of the line-ending words in a sestina is represented both numerically and alphabetically in the following table:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Table of sestina end-words<ref name="Preminger 1993, p. 1146">Preminger 1993, p. 1146</ref><ref name="Fry 2007, pp. 234–5">Fry 2007, pp. 234–5</ref>
|-
! scope="col" | Stanza 1
! scope="col" | Stanza 2
! scope="col" | Stanza 3
! scope="col" | Stanza 4
! scope="col" | Stanza 5
! scope="col" | Stanza 6
|-
! scope="row" | 1 A 
| 6 F || 3 C || 5 E || 4 D || 2 B
|-
! scope="row" | 2 B 
| 1 A || 6 F || 3 C || 5 E || 4 D
|-
! scope="row" | 3 C 
| 5 E || 4 D || 2 B || 1 A || 6 F
|-
! scope="row" | 4 D 
| 2 B || 1 A || 6 F || 3 C || 5 E
|-
! scope="row" | 5 E 
| 4 D || 2 B || 1 A || 6 F || 3 C
|-
! scope="row" | 6 F 
| 3 C || 5 E || 4 D || 2 B || 1 A 
|}

The sixth stanza is followed by a tercet that is known variably by the French term envoi, the Occitan term [[Tornada (Occitan literary term)|tornada]],<ref name="Preminger 1993, p. 1146" /> or, with reference to its size in relation to the preceding stanzas, a "half-stanza".<ref name="Gasparov 1996, p. 159">Gasparov 1996 p. 159</ref> It consists of three lines that include all six of the line-ending words of the preceding stanzas. This should take the pattern of 2–5, 4–3, 6–1 (numbers relative to the first stanza); the first end-word of each pair can occur anywhere in the line, while the second must end the line.<ref name="Fry 2007 p. 234">Fry 2007, p. 234</ref> However, the end-word order of the envoi is no longer strictly enforced.<ref name="Fry 2007, p. 237">Fry 2007, p. 237</ref>

{{Quote box |width=350px |align=left |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=right
 |quote  =<poem>
'''"Sestina"'''

''Time to plant '''tears''''' (6), says the '''almanac''' (5).
The '''grandmother''' (2) sings to the marvelous '''stove''' (4)
and the '''child''' (3) draws another inscrutable '''house''' (1).
</poem>
 |source = The envoi to "Sestina"; the repeated words are emboldened and labelled.<br>[[Elizabeth Bishop]] (1965)<ref name="Ferguson 1996, p. 1412–13">Ferguson 1996, p. 1413–13</ref>}}

The sestina has been subject to some variations, with changes being made to both the size and number of stanzas, and also to individual line length. A "double sestina" is the name given to either: two sets of six six-line stanzas, with a three-line envoy (for a total of 75 lines),<ref name="Ferguson 1996, pp. 188–90" /> or twelve twelve-line stanzas, with a six-line envoy (for a total of 150 lines). Examples of either variation are rare; "Ye Goatherd Gods" by [[Philip Sidney]] is a notable example of the former variation, while "The Complaint of Lisa" by Algernon Charles Swinburne is a notable example of the latter variation.<ref name=poetryfoundation>{{cite web|title=The Complaint of Lisa|url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174548#poem|publisher=[[Poetry Foundation|The Poetry Foundation]]|access-date=19 February 2012}}</ref> In the former variation, the original pattern of line-ending words, i.e. that of the first stanza, recurs in the seventh stanza, and thus the entire change of pattern occurs twice throughout. In the second variation, the pattern of line-ending words returns to the starting sequence in the eleventh stanza; thus it does not, unlike the "single" sestina, allow for every end-word to occupy each of the stanza ends; end-words 5 and 10 fail to couple between stanzas.