Rhyming Forms: Rondeau

Rhyming Forms: Rondeau

The Rondeau is a French form of poetry that is closely related to other French forms called the Triolet, the Rondel, and the Rondelet.

The Rondeau has 15 lines with either an even syllable count in each line, except for lines 9 and 15. Lines 9 and 15 are shorter lines because they are a phrase taken from line one.

A Rondeau has 3 stanzas; a quintet (5 line stanza), quatrain (4 line stanza) and sestet (6 line stanza) and only two rhymes are used throughout the entire poem.

The refrain is a few words taken from the first line of the first stanza; this refrain ends the second and third stanzas as the last line. All lines should be equal in length except lines 9 and 15 (the last line of the second and third stanzas). Lines 9 and 15 should also be the same.

The Rhyme scheme of a Rondeau goes like this:

a (Part of the beginning of this line becomes "R")
a
b
b
a

a
a
b
R

a
a
b
b
a
R