The rondelet is a brief French form of

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

. It contains a single

septet A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry ...

, refrain, a strict

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

and a distinct

meter The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

pattern. Rondelet is the diminutive of rondel, a similar, longer verse form. This is the basic structure: * Line 1: A—four syllables * Line 2: b—eight syllables * Line 3: A—repeat of line one * Line 4: a—eight syllables * Line 5: b—eight syllables * Line 6: b—eight syllables * Line 7: A—repeat of line one The refrained lines should contain the same words, however substitution or different use of punctuation on the lines has been common.

Etymology

The term "roundelay" originates from 1570, from

Modern French French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

rondelet, a diminutive of rondel meaning "short poem with a refrain," literally "small circle". From

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th spelling developed by association with lay (noun) "poem to be sung." A Roundelay can be any simple lyric with a refrain, but in prosody, a roundelay is a 24-line poem with a refrain and regularly repeating rhyme structure.

Etymology

References

Further reading