Rondel

At first glance, this 14th century French form looks fairly easy. It’s only thirteen lines, and some of those lines repeat. But it can actually be a little tricky to write.

Its basic structure is two quatrains (four-line stanzas), followed by a quintet (five-line stanza). The first and second lines are repeated as a refrain at the end of the second stanza, and the first line is repeated as the refrain for the last stanza.

Got that? The rhyme scheme is ABba abAB abbaA, where the capital letters are the repeating lines.

This form might be easier to follow with an example:


Measuring Time

This is how we measure time –
Day by day, a lifetime passing,
Slowly good and bad amassing
Memories sounding like a chime.

Then life will take the steeper climb
And then we fall, our ego crashing;
This is how we measure time –
Day by day, a lifetime passing.

And after we have passed our prime,
Looking back, we start rehashing;
Memories, good and bad, start clashing,
Sins and virtues – life refined.
This is how we measure time.