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Sestina
"Lyrical form of six six-line, unrhymed
stanzas,
in which endwords of first stanza recur in each
following stanza in successively rotating order."
"...a 39-line form in which the six rhyme-words
of the first stanza are used in a different order as
the rhyme-words of each subsequent stanza, to
produce abcdef faebdc cfdabe ecbfad deacfb
bdfeca eca (or ace). The b, d, and f-rhyme-
words must also be used in the last three lines."
(Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier -
Random House N.Y.and The Poetry Handbook by
John Lennard, Oxford)
For example: Ye Goatherd Gods
(by Sir Philip Sidney)
Ye goatherd gods, that love the grassy mountains,
Ye nymphs which haunt the springs in pleasant valleys,
Ye satyrs joyed with free and quiet forests,
Vouchsafe your silent ears to plaining music,
Which to my woes gives still an early morning,
And draws the dolor on till weary evening.
O Mercury, foregoer to the evening,
O heavenly huntress of the savage mountains,
O lovely star, entitled of the morning,
While that my voice doth fill these woeful valleys,
Vouchsafe your silent ears to plaining music,
Which oft hath Echo tired in secret forests.
I, that was once free burgess of the forests,
Where shade from sun, and sport I sought in evening,
I, that was once esteemed for pleasant music,
Am banished now among the monstrous mountains
Of huge despair, and foul affliction's valleys,
Am grown a screech owl to myself each morning.
I, that was once delighted every morning,
Hunting the wild inhabiters of forests,
I, that was once the music of these valleys,
So darkened am that all my day is evening,
Heartbroken so, that molehills seem high mountains
And fill the vales with cries instead of music.
Long since, alas, my deadly swannish music
Hath made itself a crier of the morning,
And hath with wailing strength climbed highest
mountains;
Long since my thoughts more desert be than forests,
Long since I see my joys come to their evening,
And state thrown down to overtrodden valleys.
Long since the happy dwellers of these valleys
Have prayed me leave my strange exclaiming music,
Which troubles their day's work and joys of evening;
Long since I hate the night, more hate the morning;
Long since my thoughts chase me like beasts in forests,
And make me with myslef laid under mountains.
etc. (See O1.627/N188)
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