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This article is about the poetry form. For other uses, see Rondeau
Rondeau

Rondeau may mean:*Rondeau , a form of French poetry*Rondo, a musical form from the 18th century to the present, also spelt 'rondeau'*Rondeau , a medieval and early Renaissance musical form distinct from the 18th century rondo...
.

A rondeau (plural rondeaux) is a form of French poetry
Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature art in which language is used for its aesthetics and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning ....
 with 15 lines written on two rhymes, as well as a corresponding musical form developed to set this characteristic verse structure. It was one of the three formes fixes (the other two were the ballade
Ballade

The ballade is a Verse form typically consisting of three eight-line stanzas, each with a consistent metre and a particular rhyme scheme. The last line in the stanza is a refrain, and the stanzas are followed by a four-line concluding stanza usually addressed to a prince....
 and the virelai
Virelai

A virelai is a form of medieval French literature used often in poetry and music. It is one of the three formes fixes , and was one of the most common verse forms set to music in Europe from the late thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries....
), and one of the verse forms in France most commonly set to music between the late 13th and the 15th centuries.






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This article is about the poetry form. For other uses, see Rondeau
Rondeau

Rondeau may mean:*Rondeau , a form of French poetry*Rondo, a musical form from the 18th century to the present, also spelt 'rondeau'*Rondeau , a medieval and early Renaissance musical form distinct from the 18th century rondo...
.

A rondeau (plural rondeaux) is a form of French poetry
Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature art in which language is used for its aesthetics and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning ....
 with 15 lines written on two rhymes, as well as a corresponding musical form developed to set this characteristic verse structure. It was one of the three formes fixes (the other two were the ballade
Ballade

The ballade is a Verse form typically consisting of three eight-line stanzas, each with a consistent metre and a particular rhyme scheme. The last line in the stanza is a refrain, and the stanzas are followed by a four-line concluding stanza usually addressed to a prince....
 and the virelai
Virelai

A virelai is a form of medieval French literature used often in poetry and music. It is one of the three formes fixes , and was one of the most common verse forms set to music in Europe from the late thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries....
), and one of the verse forms in France most commonly set to music between the late 13th and the 15th centuries. Variant forms may have 10 or 13 lines. A similar form is the French rondel
Rondel

Rondel may refer to:* Rondel or roundel, type of medieval dagger* Rondel , a circular piece of steel, as part of an armour harness, that normally protects a vulnerable point...
 and its English variant called roundel, devised by the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne

Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, controversial in his own day....
.

The rondeau is a form of verse also used in English language poetry. It makes use of refrains, repeated according to a certain stylized pattern. It was customarily regarded as a challenge to arrange for these refrains to contribute to the meaning of the poem in as succinct and poignant a manner as possible. The rondeau consists of thirteen lines of eight syllables, plus two refrains (which are half lines, each of four syllables), employing, altogether, only three rhymes. It has three stanzas and its rhyme scheme is as follows: (1) A A B B A (2) A A B with refrain: C (3) A A B B A with concluding refrain C. The refrain must be identical with the beginning of the first line.

An example is We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal United States poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life, one poem in the collection Ode to Ethiopia....
:

WE wear the mask that grins and lies, (A)
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— (A)
This debt we pay to human guile; (B)
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, (B)
And mouth with myriad subtleties. (A)


Why should the world be over-wise, (A)
In counting all our tears and sighs? (A)
Nay, let them only see us, while (B)
We wear the mask. (C)


We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries (A)
To thee from tortured souls arise. (A)
We sing, but oh the clay is vile (B)
Beneath our feet, and long the mile; (B)
But let the world dream otherwise, (A)
We wear the mask! (C)


Perhaps the best-known rondeau is the following World War I poem, In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields

"In Flanders Fields" is one of the most famous Media of World War I and has been called "the most popular poem" produced during that period. It is written in the form of a French rondeau ....
, by John McCrae
John McCrae

Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae was a Canada poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I and a surgeon during the battle of Ypres....
:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.


We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Rondeau redoublé


A more complex form is the rondeau redoublé. This is also written on two rhymes, but in five stanzas of four lines each and one of five lines. The four lines of the first stanza are repeated as the fourth lines of stanzas 2 to 5, and the first part of the first line is repeated as a short fifth line to conclude the sixth stanza. This can be represented as - A1,B1,A2,B2 - b,a,b,A1 - a,b,a,B1 - b,a,b,A2 - a,b,a,B2 - b,a,b,a,(A1).

The following example of the form was written from the point of view of one of the RAF officers carrying the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Their sons, Princes Prince William of Wales and Prince Henry of Wales , are second and third Line of succession to the British throne of the British monarchy and fifteen other Commonwealth Realms....
 to the plane that was to carry it to England.

Guard of Honour by Paul Hansford


The burden I bear is more heavy than lead.
The physical weight is a thing that I share,
but the loss that I feel will not leave my head.
Why did you have to die? Why is death so unfair?


I am close to you now. Yes, touching my hair
the flag with its lions of gold and of red
that wraps round your coffin. I know you are there.
The burden I bear is more heavy than lead.


My comrades move with me in slow, solemn tread.
Our eyes are all fixed in an unseeing stare.
Our shoulders support you in your oaken bed.
The physical weight is a thing that I share.


As I feel the world watching I try not to care.
My deepest emotions are best left unsaid.
Let others show grief like a garment they wear,
but the loss that I feel will not leave my head.


The flowers they leave like a carpet are spread,
In the books of remembrance they have written, "Somewhere
a star is extinguished because you are dead.
Why did you have to die? Why is death so unfair?"


The tears that we weep will soon grow more rare,
the rawness of grief turn to memory instead.
But deep in our hearts you will always be there,
and I ask, will I ever be able to shed
the burden I bear?


See also

  • Rondel
    Rondel (poem)

    A rondel is a verse form originating in France French poetry, later used in the verse of other languages as well, such as English poetry and Romanian language....
  • Roundel
Analogous musical forms:
  • Rondo
    Rondo

    Rondo, and its French language equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also in reference to a character-type that is distinct from the form....
  • Rondeau (music)
    Rondeau (music)

    The rondeau was a Medieval music and early Renaissance music musical form, based on a popular contemporary poetry form . It is distinct from the 18th century rondo, though the terms are likely related....
     -- Medieval and Renaissance form


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