Paradelle

The Paradelle is a modern poetic form invented by Billy Collins (who was the U.S. Poet Laureate at the time) as a parody of the villanelle. When he first published the Paradelle, it was with the footnote that it was ". . . one of the more demanding French fixed forms, first appearing in the langue d'oc love poetry of the eleventh century.”

His parody was of formal poetry and of amateur poets who adhered to formalism at the expense of sense. Some reviewers of his work failed to recognize the Paradelle as a parody and criticized Collins’ poems as an amateurish attempt at a difficult form without ever understanding that this was the point.

Some poets also missed the parody and took the form seriously, writing their own Paradelles. Others, knowing of the hoax, nevertheless decided to see what they could do with a form as strict as the Paradelle's. Thus, although invented as a hoax, the Paradelle has taken on a life of its own.

The Paradelle consists of four stanzas, each of which contains six lines. Each of the first three stanzas has the following format: the first two lines are identical, the third and fourth lines are identical. Where it begins to get difficult and become more of a poetic puzzle is when reaching fifth and sixth lines. These lines must contain all the words from the preceding four lines within the stanza using them only once to form completely new lines.

For the most difficult piece of this poetic puzzle, the final stanza of the Paradelle does not repeat like the preceding stanzas, rather the final six lines must contain every word from the first three stanzas, and only those words, again using them only once to form completely new lines.

The design is as follows:

Stanza 1: 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4
Stanza 2: 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8
Stanza 3: 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 12
Stanza 4: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

I have to admit, I thought with all the repetition this was going to be an easy form. Boy, was I wrong! This was probably one of the most difficult forms I’ve tried. The last two lines of each stanza were bad, but nothing compared to the final stanza. Trying to fit all the words from the previous stanzas without leaving any of them out was pretty tricky. If anyone out there would like a poetry challenge, I highly recommend the Paradelle.



Vampire Moon

Red moon in the sky, swollen and full
Red moon in the sky, swollen and full
Bathing the world in its ghostly light
Bathing the world in its ghostly light
Swollen in red, the full ghostly world
Bathing the moon and sky in its light

The time has come to embrace the night
The time has come to embrace the night
Rise, take your place in the mortal realm
Rise, take your place in the mortal realm
Take your place in the night rise, mortal.
Embrace the realm, the time has come to.

Soft velvet night of the vampire moon
Soft velvet night of the vampire moon
Awaits you with your heart’s desire
Awaits you with your heart’s desire
Velvet vampire desire. Soft night,
Your heart’s moon awaits with you.

In your sky, has the velvet moon come?
The night awaits with your place in
the world, swollen and full of the light.
You, bathing in its soft ghostly night.
Rise, heart’s desire, take the mortal realm;
Time to embrace the red vampire moon.