Sestina: Pretty Name, Powerful Poetry

Poetry isn't just a spectator sport.  Anyone can enjoy poetry, both as a reader and a writer.  The best thing about poetry is its diversity.  Poetry comes in all kinds of flavors.  Poems can have any of a variety of rhyme schemes or none at all.  For centuries, poets have invented and developed different kinds of poetry posing new and interesting challenges for themselves, as well as for others to improve and recreate. 

One unique format, called a 'sestina', was developed in twelfth century France by a man named Arnault Daniel.  Little is known about Arnault Daniel, except that he was born of noble parents at the Castle of Riberac in Dordogne, France.  Only seventeen of his poems survive today.  Daniel was a greatly respected poet by many of the greats we know and love today, including Italian poets Dante (Divine Comedy) and Petrarche, the original creator of the sonnet, and American poet, Ezra Pound.

The word 'sestina' comes from the Latin word for sixth: sextus.  The entire poem is based on the number six.  There are six stanzas that all have the same six end-words, arranged in different orders.  The last stanza is a tercet, meaning it has three lines.  Each line of the tercet has two of the end-words.  As this poem is easier to explain in diagram, look below for a simplified version of what a sestina looks like.  The letters A-F represent the six end-words for each line.

S1:  A

       B

       C

       D

       E

       F

S2:  F

       A

       E

       B

       D

       C

S3:  C

       F

       D

       A

       B

       E

S4:  E

       C

       B

       F  

      A

       D

S5:  D

       E

       A

       C

       F

       B

S6:  B

       D

       F

       E

       C

       A

T:    AB

       CD

       EF

Now that you have seen what a sestina skeleton looks like, here is an example of one of my own sestinas in its full-body form.  Note how the different words are used in different ways from stanza to stanza.  The sestina allows its composer to explore alternate meanings found in words and images to convey original sounding thoughts and symbols.

Spring

Like ice, time stood frozen on the lake.

My best friends, elusive little fairies,

Lived down in the coldwater spring.

Like Lost Boys, we were forever children

Creating and believing in our own youthful magic

That we caught and kept in glass jars and stories.

Every day a chain of new stories

Found its way along the shore of the lake.

Reflections change with time, but our magic

Kept us vibrant and young.  We buzzed like fairies

Eating sugar with our bread and butter.  Like a child,

The only season we knew was Spring.

Once cooled and cut in the watermelon's spring,

Sweet dripping slabs followed the stories

All around the room.  Elders and children

Played and laughed as one.  Echoes on the lake

Carried our happiness over the hills and fairies

Used our giggles to sweeten their tea and make magic.

Our love for each other is what spawns the magic

Just as sunlight causes life to spring

Up from the ground, inspiring capricious fairies

To reside in the world that lives forever in our stories.

Generations melded by that quiet lake;

I'm glad we shared those times as children.

In many ways we have remained as children.

Once blessed with the wisdom of childhood magic

We resolved never to forget the lake

Or the happiness we found every Spring.

We made a promise to remember the stories

And to never never stop looking for fairies.

Even though I'm grown, I still see fairies

Dancing in the eyes of my own children.

I smile as I listen to their new stories

And hold them, knowing they have the magic

That will stay with them forever though Springs

Turn into winters; even on the lake.

I'll always recall the lake and the impish faeries,

Playing in the spring as a child,

And capturing the magic of our lives in stories.

Now that you've seen the form and an example, try one on your own.  If you can't think of six words, there are lots of ways to find some.  Ask friends or relatives to each give you a word.  Another idea would be to look around the room and pick six words that you see.  The real fun is in making the words go together in your sestina.  You'll be amazed at what you come up with.  Sometimes the result is funny and other times it can be quite profound.  It's all in how you arrange the lines.  The sestina can teach you a lot about yourself and what you're capable of.  Create your own masterpiece and have fun.