A sestina (Italian: sestina, from sesto, sixth; Old Occitan: cledisat; [why?] also known as sestine, sextine, sextain) is a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. The words that end each line of the first stanza are used as line endings in each of the following stanzas, rotated in ...

Sestina A complex French verse form, usually unrhymed, consisting of six stanzas of six lines each and a three-line envoi. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in a different order as end words in each of the subsequent five stanzas; the closing envoi contains all six words, two per line, placed in the middle and at the end of the ...

The sestina is a complex, thirty-nine-line poem featuring the intricate repetition of end-words in six stanzas and an envoi. Rules of the Sestina Form. The sestina follows a strict pattern of the repetition of the initial six end-words of the first stanza through the remaining five six-line stanzas, culminating in a three-line envoi.

Dec 14, 2016 · The sestina is one of the more challenging forms of the era, and perhaps that is one reason it is also a very fulfilling form to craft a poem in – especially when it comes together well. Like many French forms, like the villanelle and …

Sestina is a type of a poem that contains six stanzas, each stanza having six lines, while concluding seventh stanza having three lines. Definition, Usage and a list of Sestina Examples in literature.

What kind of poem is a sestina? Sestinas are six-stanza poems that are made of sestets, or stanzas, composed of six lines. These poems use an intricate pattern of repeated words that can be hard to learn and even harder to spot.

20 hours ago · A sestina is a poetic form composed of six stanzas of six lines each, followed by a three-line stanza called an envoi, for a total of thirty-nine lines. The last word of each line in the first stanza of a sestina is also used to end the lines in each subsequent stanza, except the order of those end words differs for each stanza. ...

Feb 25, 2020 · What is a sestina, and what is the sestina used for? How can such a complex and difficult form be used by a poet to express things effectively? Poets as varied as Sir Philip Sidney, Elizabeth Bishop, and Algernon Charles Swinburne have left their mark on this most challenging, and yet rewarding, of poetic forms.

Nov 23, 2023 · Some poetic forms are noted for being immensely complex and difficult to write, and the sestina is usually seen as one of those types of poems. That is why this article will examine the history of this form, the sestina structure, the characteristics of these kinds of poems, how to write a sestina, and a few sestina poem examples.

Feb 21, 2025 · A sestina poem is a 39-line poem composed of 6 sestets and a tercet. (In the sestina, the tercet is called the “envoi.”) Historically, sestinas were written in iambic pentameter; contemporary poems don’t require adherence to meter.