Why Do Poets Choose the Villanelle to Convey Certain Themes?
Among the many fixed poetic forms available to poets, the Villanelle holds a distinctive and enduring appeal. Its rigid structure, marked by repetition and circular movement, makes it especially suited to exploring themes that resist resolution: grief, longing, obsession, time, love, and loss. Poets across centuries and languages have returned to the Villanelle not despite its constraints, but...