Rondeau

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The Poet's Manual and Rhyming Dictionary

The most extensive rhyming dictionary available. Reference no writer of verse can afford to be without.

Rondeau

Rondeaux are French lyrical poems, originally developed as a form of medieval courtly music. As song, the form was four stanzas with fully repeating refrains. It was adopted by church musicians as an emotionally rich container, ideal for spiritual worship.

The rondeau developed into a form for expressing devotion to secular objects such as springtime, love and romance and also offered a vehicle for the celebration of melancholy: many rondeaux seem to be about pain and loss; yet turn, by the last stanza, almost jovial. It has been reported that only the English, who adopted the rondeau at the end of the 18th century, truly attempt serious verse with this form.

The standard, literary rondeau is usually found as three stanzas - a quintet, quatrain and sestet - with each of the 15 lines containing eight syllables. The refrain consists of the first four syllables, (or sometimes the first word), of the first stanza; and ends the second and third stanzas. Only two rhymes are used throughout and the rhyming scheme is as follows: aabba aabR aabbaR.

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae is a good example of the standard literary rondeau.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

a
a
b
b
a

a
a
b
Refrain

a
a
b
b
a
Refrain

Variations on the Rondeau

The Rondelet

Coming from the French word 'round', the rondelet consists of two rhymes, contained within a single, seven-line stanza. There are a specific number of syllables per line and line one is repeated as lines three and seven.

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5
Line 6
Line 7

a (four syllables)
b (eight syllables)
repeat line one
a (eight syllables)
b (eight syllables)
b (eight syllables)
repeat line one

The Rondel

The rondel consists of 13 lines, divided into three stanzas, and includes two repeated lines

Stanza One
Stanza Two
Stanza Three

abba
ab, line one, line two
abba, line one

The Rondeau Redouble

The rondeau redouble is the French translation of a double rondeau. Consisting of 25 lines, it features a four-line refrain which forms the first quatrain. These four lines are then used successively as the last lines of the following four quatrains. The sixth and final stanza is a quintrain which contains no repetition of previous lines; it does, however, include a 'tail' which is the beginning clause or phrase from line one.

The same two rhymes are used throughout and the rhyming scheme is as follows:

Stanza One
Stanza Two
Stanza Three
Stanza Four
Stanza Five
Stanza Six

A1B1A2B2
abbA1
abaB1
babA2
abaB2
abab
tail from line one

The following example, by Frances Stillman, is taken from The Poet's Manual and Rhyming Dictionary.

Death That Took Fair Helen

Oh Death that took fair Helen, you who wait
Down every twisted passageway we wend,
We'll see your unknown visage, soon or late -
The passageway will turn, and reach an end.

And are you enemy, or are you friend?
Along the walls are pictured scenes that state
The beauty that all living might portend.
Oh Death that took fair Helen, you who wait

And we mistake the scenes for real, and prate
Of what we hope, or how our life will trend,
Taking for granted there is something great
Down every twisted passageway we wend.

We do not know what waits around each bend,
And wish our passageways were clear and straight-
But whether they go upward or descend,
We'll see your unknown visage, soon or late.

And sometime when we're gay, inebriate
Of life itself, and hear our bards commend
The upward way, and celebrate man's fate
The passageway will turn, and reach an end.

What gods are there we might propitiate?
How guard the passageway, and how defend
The right to keep on going? - we who hate
And fear your scythe with every breath we spend,
Oh Death that took fair Helen?

A1
B1
A2
B2

a
b
b
A1

a
b
a
B1

b
a
b
A2

a
b
a
B2

a
b
a
b
R

Submission Guidelines: The address to send your rondeau(x) to is: Rondeau, Forward Press Ltd, Remus House, Woodston, Peterborough PE2 9JX
Please remember to write your name and address on each piece of work you send.

Alternatively, you can email us your poems: inbox@forwardpress.co.uk (Please include your name and postal address.)

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