Monday Poetry Stretch - Rondeau

The rondeau is a French poetic form that uses only two rhymes and hemstitch. Here are the basic guidelines:

• Composed of 15 lines
• Lines of 8 syllables, except the refrain, which is 4 syllables
• Refrain (hemstitch) is the first 4 syllables of the first line 
• Two rhymes with three stanzas and rhyme scheme of:
• quintet - a, a, b, b, a
• quatrain - a, a, b, R
• sestet - a, a, b, b, a, R

Here's an example of a rondeau.

We Wear the Mask

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

We wear the mask that grins and lies, 

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— 

This debt we pay to human guile; 

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile 

And mouth with myriad subtleties,

Why should the world be over-wise, 

In counting all our tears and sighs? 

Nay, let them only see us, while 

     We wear the mask.

We smile, but oh great Christ, our cries 

To thee from tortured souls arise. 

We sing, but oh the clay is vile 

Beneath our feet, and long the mile, 

But let the world dream otherwise, 

     We wear the mask!

You can learn more about the rondeau at Shadow Poetry.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a rondeau. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.