Form Does Follow Function (As Demonstrated By the Villanelle)
...ntirely dismissed. Furthermore, “when meter is honored over rhythm, line over syntax, form over structure, even the most prodigious manipulation of traditional patterns may be rendered decorative” (151) – the instance of non-functional text - an issue I wanted to avoid, hence my liberty at slightly modifying still the form in the attempt, with the loose adherence to the core couplet in the succeeding stanzas’ third lines, but nevertheless maintaining the revelation at the necessary points. Voigt elaborates on that, “organization, in its widest sense, is more difficult and – almost – more important than anything else in the poem, because it is more nearly than anything else corresponds to the whole that is the poem” (166), a truth served in the attempt, as the chronological presentation of the words in the poem charts in ascent the causal events; the words “foreboding”(line 3); “count the seconds,” “soon” (line 9) and “start” (line 15), for example, suggest the structural function of timing and pacing and unifies the flow of the poem towards the consequent intended revelation/relief of the poem. However, as Voigt additionally maintains that, “a rhyme scheme is only one formal tool at the poet’s disposal, and not the chief one” (130), a fact which I have blatantly exploited in the attempt, it is also relevant to point out that in the villanelle, the unconditional meter length is a most favourable factor. It provides for the form’s more flexible confrontation of the subject as the poet virtually has a free-for-all option for line breaks and enjambments, which serve as punctuation and aids the coherence and encapsulation of released information; signaling the reader when and where to breathe. She further stresses that, “in poems as in conversation, word choices (erudite or slangy, precise or dreamy, neutral or loaded) and word order …tell us something about the speaker and provide affect for what is said” (158), to which the attempt attests with the words “evanescent” (line 2); “slipping” (line 5); “stop-motion” (line 11) and “about to” (line 18) among others, all of which suggest the building up of the climax in the poem’s theme/narrative. The words convey the persona’s slow apprehension at the approach of the pivotal events. However, in my attempt, it is inevitable that I should encounter a handful of challenges. First off, there is the realization that writing villanelles is not an effortless task, and the cause is not just the meter, the repetition, or the rhyme. The predicament is in developing the impact of the repeated lines prominently enough and comprehensibly enough, interlocked into all the supporting lines, not to be overwhelmed by this poem's intrinsically complicated form, but instead, enhancing and completing the form, accordingly gratifying the function. The fact that one has to think of two main lines that will basically make up almost half of the poem was a double-edged sword; while the idea initially presented itself as an easy task since once you do make your choices, your work is cut out for you; and yet, it was hardly that at all. What I ultimately tried to avoid was coming up with something that would fail to hold the reader’s interest after encountering the repetitions. Significant consideration was given to the choice of words. Just as the crux of the sonnet is the volta, or the direction or meaning after the first eight lines, the villanelle, however, with its patterned rhyme, depends heavily on a specific element – again, we point to the two repeated lines. These lines, despite their constant appearance in the poem, also varies in both their position and sense throughout the poem, perhaps increasing in irony until the final couplet reasonably stands out and presents the distinctive and ultimate theme. Also, I have discovered, that in that sense, the villanelle is closely knit to the sonnet, though not in rhyme scheme, but certainly in the objective to be something more than at originally appears as a form. On the other hand, this ‘limitation’ with the core co...