Write me a villanelle.
I won't define villanelle for you...you can look it up. If you don't already know what it is, how well you learn will be part of the contest, won't it?
I WILL tell you that I strongly favor the Dylan Thomas traditional form (Do not go gentle into that good night) to anything approaching the "revamped" deconstruction used by Elizabeth Bishop in One Art or Martha Collins in The Story We Know. I won't argue the poeic merits of this sort of changing of the pattern of the poem...they're my points.
A villanelle is a very versatile poem! It can be used romantically, for satire, for drama...it's up to you to make the choice, and to use the form in such a way as to make full use of its versatility! Remember, the classic forms are NOT restraints...they're tools and used properly are very liberating!
TAKE NOTICE! Spelling, grammar, punctuation and especially a proper grasp of meter will count!
As mentioned on my last comment to all your entries, a really good villanelle will demonstrate a facility for using the repeat lines as part of different sentences, and the very best may well present them in such a light as to cause those exactly-repeated words to offer a slightly different meaning by the way in which each sentence uses them.
As promised, the text of a good example is shown here.
"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"
~by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
old age should burn and rave at close of day;
rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
because their words had forked no lightning they
do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
and learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
In the time of Dylan Thomas, it was still en vogue, poetically, to capitalize the opening word of each line regardless of its position in a sentence. In order to remove that possible confusion, I've amended that in this copy of the poem so that the sentence structures employed may be more readily visible.
For more examples of this technique, and just to get a good idea of how the guy awarding the points thinks a villanelle should be constructed, you may wish to see a couple of my own. It couldn't hurt...
http://allpoetry.com/poem/764986
http://allpoetry.com/poem/254100
Three 'honorable mention' spots have been added to this contest. Automatic software won't allow me to change the point value from their arbitrary 30 points, but each winner of HonorableMention will be given an additional 170 to bring the total of his/her win to 200 points. (If I forget yours, remind me!)
Again...Finalists as currently shown on this page are preliminary choices and are, as of yet, in no particular order.
Best of luck to all of you.
I won't define villanelle for you...you can look it up. If you don't already know what it is, how well you learn will be part of the contest, won't it?
I WILL tell you that I strongly favor the Dylan Thomas traditional form (Do not go gentle into that good night) to anything approaching the "revamped" deconstruction used by Elizabeth Bishop in One Art or Martha Collins in The Story We Know. I won't argue the poeic merits of this sort of changing of the pattern of the poem...they're my points.
A villanelle is a very versatile poem! It can be used romantically, for satire, for drama...it's up to you to make the choice, and to use the form in such a way as to make full use of its versatility! Remember, the classic forms are NOT restraints...they're tools and used properly are very liberating!
TAKE NOTICE! Spelling, grammar, punctuation and especially a proper grasp of meter will count!
As mentioned on my last comment to all your entries, a really good villanelle will demonstrate a facility for using the repeat lines as part of different sentences, and the very best may well present them in such a light as to cause those exactly-repeated words to offer a slightly different meaning by the way in which each sentence uses them.
As promised, the text of a good example is shown here.
"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"
~by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
old age should burn and rave at close of day;
rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
because their words had forked no lightning they
do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
and learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
In the time of Dylan Thomas, it was still en vogue, poetically, to capitalize the opening word of each line regardless of its position in a sentence. In order to remove that possible confusion, I've amended that in this copy of the poem so that the sentence structures employed may be more readily visible.
For more examples of this technique, and just to get a good idea of how the guy awarding the points thinks a villanelle should be constructed, you may wish to see a couple of my own. It couldn't hurt...
http://allpoetry.com/poem/764986
http://allpoetry.com/poem/254100
Three 'honorable mention' spots have been added to this contest. Automatic software won't allow me to change the point value from their arbitrary 30 points, but each winner of HonorableMention will be given an additional 170 to bring the total of his/her win to 200 points. (If I forget yours, remind me!)
Again...Finalists as currently shown on this page are preliminary choices and are, as of yet, in no particular order.
Best of luck to all of you.
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on May 10, 2008
- Rewards: Gold: 2000, Silver: 1000, Bronze: 500, Honorable mention: 3 people
- Final notes: This was NOT EASY. Most of you offered well-rhymed and well-metered examples of the form, and deciding who would not receive at least an 'honorable mention' was something of an agony that might almost have come t heads-or-tails in some instances. In the end, only the Gold gave me everything I was looking for, down to the varied placement of the repeat lines in their various sentences, lending a variety to the meaning with which they read...but that's a hard trick in its own right.
Every one of you should feel proud, especially for producing such work while operating in an environment that disdains rhyme and meter (most often, just because those scorning it just can't DO it!)
Final comments to individual work will follow, but really, well done all of you!
Contest Winners
- Error: Unable to find finalist item 4169423, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
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The rain today shows how the skies are sad, They see the mess the World is in below,by cricketjeff 26 lines, 12 comments, on Apr 27 6:25 AM 2008. In Sad, Society, Thoughts, villanelle
Silver trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
If a man did not know the name
of one bird, one star, one single flower,by Gone Feral 23 lines, 8 comments, on Apr 25 4:08 PM 2008. In Society, Thoughts, villanelle attempt
Bronze trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
A true and loving heart is always full.
Yet, sorrow always plays a proper part.by PerVirtuous 26 lines, 12 comments, on Apr 26 11:18 AM 2008. In Personal, Spiritual, Thoughts
Honorable mention
• Commented on by judge. [remove] - Error: Unable to find finalist item 4202247, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
Entries [10]
1 - 10 of 10
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I awake each day with only one thought
And often ponder with much reflection• Commented on by judge. -
Warm heart + warm soul = loving treat.• Commented on by judge.
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Comments
1 - 16 of 16
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bookmarking this, maybe i'll learn something new.
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Only fitting...I think I got about half these points from you! (
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I know you would give me gold even if I wrote poopy.
That's why I love you.
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That's why this is an anonymous contest.
(Besides, I'm very strict! I recommend a run through my previous contests.) -
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I'd tell you who I am in the authors note
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Son of a bitch. Go to my author page and look at the date of the most recent pictures plus the identification of subject, and you will start to laugh...
People here who are familiar with my love of form also understand that this is my LEAST favorite form... Martha Collins at least loves the form -- that is something I cannot claim. There's a part of me that wants to write a terzanelle just so someone with your intelligence does not hereafter inadvertantly promote the worst that AP can produce of such style for all the right reasons, but with horrific results.
A villanelle. It takes a lot to make me come out of my cuccoon of indifference to this site, but my hatred of the villanelle despite loving formulistic poetry might do it... -
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I wonder sometimes if one can truly be said to 'love' a form they obviously don't understand. Mz. Collins' best-known work in this form is written in such a way as to defeat the purpose of the form; so is Liz Bishop's. Essentially, both poems are approximations of the form rather than examples of it, and should be thus labeled.
I don't hand out huge sums of points for approximations of what I asked for. I wat the genuine article.
By all means write me a terzanelle; I love that form, too, and don't see enough of them done well...but it won't win any points in this contest unless it can also meet the qualifications of a true villanelle. Pull off THAT feat, and I might just knock First Place up by another 500 points for it.
(And it's spelled 'cocoon'.)
(again, for good measure.)
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I actually have penned a traditional villanelle -- about twinkies. And all their Hostess goodness. Not to mention their obvious metaphorical similarity to other oral skills. I was quite pleased with that villanelle, actually.
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A noble subject...well worthy of the form!
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To ecrivain01
Your IM in response to a message to ALL entries:
"I made it into the Writer's Digest top 100 in THREE categories, without that meter crap. I find your message patronizing and ridiculous so I'm putting you on my permanent block list. "
I don't really care who else's contests you've been in...this is MY contest, and a villanelle IS a metered form. I find your attitude pompous and your message childish...and in case you didn't realize it, by putting me on block YOU removed YOURSELF from this contest; if I thought your poem was good enough I STILL couldn't award you any points, so don't go crying to your buddies that your message robbed you.
(By the way, I'll stack my PAID publication credits against yours any day...Writer's Digest doesn't impress me in the slightest.)
From now on, ALL my contests will be clearly labeled, "Pompous spoiled brats not welcome." -
apparently not
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I have read your comments, and have taken them to heart. I am unable to improve my poem, so it must stay as it is. This is a form I will master, but I have immense difficulty in using the refrain lines as more than sentences. Run another contest in a few years, and I'm sure I'll do better.
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It can be a tricky form, yeah...but all the more satisfying for that, I promise. I think the main problem is, you got here kind of late without a lot of time to revamp. But hey...they're only points! The satisfaction of the expression is by far the more valuable end of that deal!
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Thank you very much for placing my poem. It is a form that does not suit my style, and as such is good to have a go at it for the challenge and try to master the technicalities and the art of it, especially when there is the genuine help and advice of the contest holder, who knows his subject at hand.
Thank you.
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Oh and I was so surprised to place I forgot to say congrats to the winners and honmenches too.
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