One of the harshest and most intimidating forms of poetry is that of the Sestina. Most poetry these days is written freely, without regard to structure and rules, but that is part of the evolution of poetry. The Sestina, like the Sonnet or any other form, uses such strict rules to take the mind off some of the other aspects. If you focus enough on one point, the others just fall into place.

Also, it is much more impressive to produce a work of art within such strict guidelines. The Sestina is one of the most oppressive forms that exist, not because of a meter or a verse, or couplets, but because of six simple words.

So here is the form. Choose six words, versatile words. Words that can be used as nouns, verbs, adjectives. Word that can be pluralized and used in the past and future. These words will be used a lot, so keep them loose and snappy. If you choose something long and polysyllabic, it will be difficult.

Your sestina has 39 lines, six stanzas of six lines and a seventh of three. Each verse is blank verse with a meter varied between four and six beats. The end of these lines is marked by one of his six words. Word order is also vitally important. Here is a sestina written by Rudyard Kipling, one of the best known (and best written, I might add) Sestina:

Generally speaking, I’ve tried them all.

The happy paths that take you around the world.

Generally speaking, I have found them good.

For those who can’t use a bed too long,

But you must get ‘ence, the same thing I’ve done,

And keep an eye on things until they die.

What does it matter where or how we die?

As long as we have our health to see it all

The different ways different things are done,

And men and women loving each other in this world;

Taking our chances as they come

And when they are not, pretending that they are good?

Cash or credit no, it doesn’t work;

You have to have a little time or you would die,

Unless you’ve lived your life for just one day,

He neither prophesied nor fretted at all,

But he drew his tucker somehow from the world,

And I never cared what you might have done.

But, God, what are the things that I have not done?

I’ve turned my ‘and most around, and turned it right,

In various situations around the world

For he who does not work must certainly die;

But that’s no reason why man should work all

‘It’s life in the same turn, life is not that long.

Therefore, from one job to another I have moved.

Pay I couldn’t ‘get away when my time was up,

Something in my head changed everything

Until I left whatever was forever,

And, in the sea, watch the lights of the dock go out,

And I met my partner, the wind that wanders the world!

It’s like a book, I think, this flourishing world,

That you can read and care for so long,

But now you feel like you’re going to die.

Unless you get the page you are reading,

And convert another probably not so good;

But what you seek is to convert them all.

God bless this world! whatever i’ve done

Except when I’ve long since found it good.

So he writes, before he dies, “He liked everything!”

Kipling’s six words are “all, world, well, done, well, die.” You’ll notice that they’re short, simple words that won’t necessarily seem overwhelming to the reader, so the fact that they read each word seven times across the 39 lines isn’t immediately apparent. In the first stanza he uses the words in the order mentioned. In the second stanza, he uses the word six first, then the word one, five, two, four, and three.

6

one

5

two

4

3

Using the previous stanza for each new stanza, follow the pattern above. It’s like a math problem with a repeating formula. However, the key to Sestina is not in the formula. If you can’t get the formula, why bother writing it down? No, the key is to sound as natural as possible without sacrificing form.

I have found that writing a kind of story makes it simpler. It also calls for the reuse of certain words. Likewise, when you write, use plain language. Don’t sound flowery and poetic. Tell a simple story with simple words and make it interesting. Also, don’t use every word the same way every time. You see Kipling using along sometimes instead of long or ’em all instead of all. It makes it look like a different word is being used, even if it isn’t.

If you can get past the first six stanzas, you are presented with the seventh and tasked with using all six words, this time in any order you like on three lines. And often this is a kind of conclusion, like an essay, that sums up the story of your poem. But, let it not be just a summary. Keep it consistent with your tone and progression. If you ever start repeating yourself in this way, you have failed the form and abandoned your readers.