Editing Villanelle (section)

== Form ==
The villanelle consists of five [[stanza]]s of three lines ([[tercet]]s) followed by a single stanza of four lines (a [[quatrain]]) for a total of nineteen lines.<ref name="Strand et al. 2001 p. 7">Strand et al. 2001 p. 7</ref> It is structured by two repeating [[rhyme]]s and two [[refrain]]s: the first line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the second and fourth stanzas, and the third line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the third and fifth stanzas.<ref name="Strand et al. 2001 p. 7"/> The rhyme-and-refrain pattern of the villanelle is:
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
{{block indent|<poem>Refrain 1 (A<sup>1</sup>)
Line 2 (b)
Refrain 2 (A<sup>2</sup>)

Line 4 (a)
Line 5 (b)
Refrain 1 (A<sup>1</sup>)

Line 7 (a)
Line 8 (b)
Refrain 2 (A<sup>2</sup>)

Line 10 (a)
Line 11 (b)
Refrain 1 (A<sup>1</sup>)

Line 13 (a)
Line 14 (b)
Refrain 2 (A<sup>2</sup>)

Line 16 (a)
Line 17 (b)
Refrain 1 (A<sup>1</sup>)
Refrain 2 (A<sup>2</sup>)</poem>
}}
{{col-end}}
All 'a' lines rhyme, similarly all 'b' lines, and A<sup>1</sup> and A<sup>2</sup> indicate two different refrains which are repeated exactly. It can be [[rhyme scheme|schematized]] as {{not a typo|A<sup>1</sup>bA<sup>2</sup> abA<sup>1</sup> abA<sup>2</sup> abA<sup>1</sup> abA<sup>2</sup> abA<sup>1</sup>A<sup>2</sup>}}.<ref name="aap">{{cite web|title=Poetic Form: Villanelle|url=http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5796|work=Poets.org|publisher=[[Academy of American Poets]]|access-date=2012-10-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013133937/http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5796|archive-date=2012-10-13|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The villanelle has no established meter, although most 19th-century villanelles used [[trimeter]] or [[tetrameter]] and most 20th-century villanelles used [[pentameter]]. Slight alteration of the refrain line is permissible.<ref name="Fry 2007, p. 225">Fry 2007, p. 225</ref>