No poetic form is easy. While one can write a serviceable sonnet or haiku by following the prescribed structure, this doesn't mean the poem works. The form has to enhance or extend the content or aim to function effectively.
Further, the poet should have written the form so many times that they transcend it; it is no longer a mechanical exercise but a fluid construction, adapted as they see fit and conjoined to an emotive texture that renders the poem, and not just the form, memorable.
The sestina is one of the more complex forms to make seem natural and is thus an exciting challenge for the poet.
The Sestina's Origins
The Sestina is a form that was developed in the 12th century in the Provence region of France by the troubadour Arnaut Daniel. Troubadours were traveling court poets. They often competed with each other to see who could create and perform the most challenging types of verse. The sestina or "little song" came to be known as one of the poetic heights on which a poet could test his skills.
Another variant form that developed around the same time was the Italian canzone. This form is even more difficult than the sestina, often seeming impossible. It features only five stanzas, but each of these must have twelve lines, with an envoi of five lines at the end. More problematic, the poet can only select five words to be repeated at the end of each line in a unique and maddening cycle of recurrence. The envoi then ends with each of the selected words.
The Sestina's Form
The sestina, in contrast to the canzone, has as many lines in its stanzas as it has repeated words: six. In each one of the six line stanzas, each end word has to repeat once, but not randomly, in a specified order. Then the last stanza is of three lines in which each word repeats once again, with two in the first, two in the second and two in the third.
If one considers each of the words to be numbered 1-6, then the pattern of repetition is: Stanza One: 123456. Stanza Two: 615243. Stanza Three: 364125. Stanza Four: 532614. Stanza Five: 451362. Stanza Six: 246531.
The envoy, or final three lines then has the words repeating 2-5/4-3/6-1. The true challenge in making a sestina work well is in selecting the right six words. Ideally, they are simple words that could have multiple layers of connotation or resonance, as in a word like "shoots" that can be used to refer to grasses or violence or a word such as "palms" that can refer to the tree or hands. T
The poet can also use homonyms at times like "raise/raze" or slight modifications to the word such as "far/afar" or "live/alive". Variety within consistency is very important in creating a sestina that isn't dull and monotonous to read. Selecting an obsessively-based subject matter also works well with the sestina, for instance, a love affair or drug use.
 |
