The villanelle incarnates obsession in a poem

Like the pantoum, which was also imported into modern English from another language & has its roots in a folk form, the villanelle is built with whole lines that repeat & interweave through the poem. This repetition of entire lines lends both forms a peculiarly obsessive quality -- could this be the reason both the pantoum & the villanelle have found favor with modern poets working in English?

The villanelle’s repeating lines are separated in their first appearance in the opening triplet, then weave alternately in at the end of each succeeding triplet, until they come together at the end in the closing couplet. We’ve selected links so that you can read some of the best & most famous villanelles in English; each link in our library is accompanied by its essential couplet.

Related resources:
Our Glossary of Poetic Forms