The Rondine Verse Form

The Rondine is a 16th century French form, a descendant of the Rondeau, much like the Rondel, Rondelet, Triolet and Villanelle. It’s written in two stanzas, a septet (seven lines) and a quintet (five lines), which makes it a poem of twelve lines.

There are eight syllables per line, except for the seventh and twelfth lines that repeat the first four syllables of the first line as a refrain, known as a retrement. There is no set meter or subject matter, but there is a rhyme scheme of a-b-b-a-a-b-R, a-b-b-a-R, the R being the refrain.

I’m not sure if a schematic helps or not:

Rxxx,xxxa
xxxxxxxb
xxxxxxxb
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxb
Rxxx

xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxb
xxxxxxxb
xxxxxxxa
Rxxx

This was an interesting form to write in. I kind of like how only the first four syllables are used as a refrain. And given the fact that we’ve been experiencing smoke from fires raging out of control around us for the last several days, I found the subject of today’s example quite easy to decide on.


World on Fire

The sun looks small, hanging so low
rising just above the treeline.
The red and orange and pink combine
to give the sky a pastel glow.
Surreal landscape down below
the dull pale orb with red outline—
the sun looks small.

Fine ashes from the fires blow
trapping the world without sunshine,
just sepia skies that combine
the worst of fear, the tales of woe—
the sun looks small.