[vil-uh-nel] 
| a short poem of fixed form, written in tercets, usually five in number, followed by a final quatrain, all being based on two rhymes. |
[vil-uh-nel-uh; It. veel-lah-nel-lah] [-nel-ee; It. -nel-le] . | a rustic Italian part song without accompaniment. |
| vil·la·nelle (vĭl'ə-něl') n. A 19-line poem of fixed form consisting of five tercets and a final quatrain on two rhymes, with the first and third lines of the first tercet repeated alternately as a refrain closing the succeeding stanzas and joined as the final couplet of the quatrain. [French, from Italian villanella, from feminine of villanello, rustic, from villano, peasant, from Vulgar Latin *vīllānus, from Latin vīlla, country house; see weik-1 in Indo-European roots.] |
villanelle
rustic song in Italy, where the term originated (Italian villanella from villano: "peasant"); the term was used in France to designate a short poem of popular character favoured by poets in the late 16th century. Du Bellay's "Vanneur de Ble" and Philippe Desportes' "Rozette" are examples of this early type, unrestricted in form. Jean Passerat (died 1602) left several villanelles, one so popular that it set the pattern for later poets and, accidentally, imposed a rigorous and somewhat monotonous form: seven-syllable lines using two rhymes, distributed in (normally) five tercets and a final quatrain with line repetitions.
Learn more about villanelle with a free trial on Britannica.com.