A Dainty Thing's The Villanelle

William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)



A DAINTY thing's the Villanelle,
Sly, musical, a jewel in rhyme,
It serves its purpose passing well.

A double-clappered silver bell
That must be made to clink in chime,
A dainty thing's the Villanelle;

And if you wish to flute a spell,
Or ask a meeting 'neath the lime,
It serves its purpose passing well.

You must not ask of it the swell
Of organs grandiose and sublime--
A dainty thing's the Villanelle;

And, filled with sweetness, as a shell
Is filled with sound, and launched in time,
It serves its purpose passing well.

Still fair to see and good to smell
As in the quaintness of its prime,
A dainty thing's the Villanelle,
It serves its purpose passing well.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

37 sec read
346

Quick analysis:

Scheme AbA abA abA abA abA abAA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 654
Words 122
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4

William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley was an English poet, critic and editor, best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus". more…

All William Ernest Henley poems | William Ernest Henley Books

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    "A Dainty Thing's The Villanelle" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/40424/a-dainty-thing's-the-villanelle>.

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