I've been trying lots of different poetry forms recently. Today it's the turn of the villanelle and my poem about having a no screen day. I think we should have a national #NoScreenDay to encourage children (and adults) to enjoy life away from those ever-present screens. What do you think?
If you'd like to write your own villanelle poem, I've created a guide below using my poem: A No Screen Day. I would love you to share your villanelle poems in the comments box.
A No Screen Day
Let’s make today a no screen day
Let’s run outside, wide-open-eyed
Imagination needs to play
No worries if the clouds are grey
Let wonder bolts blow them aside
Let’s make today a no screen day
Go let your worries go astray
Go river stride, go rainbow slide
Imagination needs to play
Go fairy hunt, go dragon slay
Go zombie hide, go phoenix ride
Let’s make today a no screen day
Today’s about to run away
Without you in it, stuck inside
Imagination needs to play
So quickly, chase it, beg it stay
Put on your pride and go outside
Let’s make today a no screen day
Imagination needs to play
Mark Bird
How to write a villanelle poem:
A villanelle, also known as villanesque, is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. Villanelles also have two refrains.
The tercets have an ABA rhyming scheme.
The quatrain has an ABAA rhyming scheme.
Tercet: A 3 line stanza
Quatrain: A 4 line stanza
Refrain: Lines that repeat throughout the poem
A No Screen Day
Tercet 1
A. Let’s make today a no screen day (Line 1)
B. Let’s run outside, wide-open-eyed (Line 2)
A. Imagination needs to play (Line 3)
Tercet 2
A. No worries if the clouds are grey
B. Let wonder bolts blow them aside (Rhymes with line 2)
A. Let’s make today a no screen day (Repeats line 1)
Tercet 3
A. Go let your worries go astray
B. Go river stride, go rainbow slide (Rhymes with line 2)
A. Imagination needs to play (Repeats line 3)
Tercet 4
A. Go fairy hunt, go dragon slay
B. Go zombie hide, go phoenix ride (Rhymes with line 2)
A. Let’s make today a no screen day (Repeats line 1)
Tercet 5
A. Today’s about to run away
B. Without you in it, stuck inside (Rhymes with line 2)
A. Imagination needs to play (Repeats line 3)
Final stanza: a quatrain
A. So quickly, chase it, beg it stay
B. Put on your pride and go outside (Rhymes with line 2)
A. Let’s make today a no screen day (Repeats line 1)
A. Imagination needs to play (Repeats line 3)
Mark Bird
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