SESTINA

Author's Comments

The Sestina is a fixed form consisting of six 6-line stanzas (usually unrhymed) in which the end words of the first stanza recur as end words of the following five stanzas in a successively rotating order and as the middle and end words of each of the lines of a concluding envoi in the form of a Tercet.

The usual ending word order for a sestina is as follows:


First stanza
1 - 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6

Second stanza
6 – 1 – 5 – 2 – 4 – 3

Third stanza
3 – 6 – 4 – 1 – 2 – 5

Fourth stanza
5 – 3 – 2 – 6 – 1 – 4

Fifth stanza
4 – 5 – 1 – 3 – 6 – 2

Sixth stanza
2 – 4 – 6 – 5 – 3 – 1


Concluding Tercet

Middle of first line – 2, end of first line – 5

Middle of second line – 4, end of second line – 3

Middle if third line – 6, end of third line – 1