OBJECTIVE
Each student will write a sestina
BACKGROUND
The sestina is a fixed form poem of thirty-nine lines divided into six stanzas of six lines each and a final three-line stanza. There is no rhyme, but all the lines end with one of the six words chosen by the poet.
The order in which the six words appear at the end of each stanza is prearranged, and it varies. The final three line stanza contains the six words, but two words must appear in each line in the same order as in the first stanza. This fixed form poem is demanding and a challenge for both the new and established poet. Most poems are written using ideas and feelings generated in the poet’s mind, but the sestina forces the poet to write from the outside in. The sestina was believed to have been developed in the Twelfth Century. Since then the form has been used through the centuries by Spanish, French, English, and American Poets. Of the Twentieth Century poets, W.H. Auden and Ezra Pound are most noted poets who use the sestina form.
STRATEGY
-
1. Discuss the challenges inherent in some areas of the human experience especially challenges in sports. (ie. the pitcher pitching so many perfect innings in a row, or the basketball player who scores the most point in a game, or the handicapped person who walks from the west coast to the east coast). In sports, these challenges are imposed by arbitrary limitations. For example, in baseball the shape of the playing field and the size of the strike zone create challenges for the participants. Any sport asks you to perform your best within the limits set by the shape of the playing field and by the rules many of which are arbitrary. Relate those challenges to the challenge for poets-the sestina.
-
2. Only tell the students that the sestina is a fixed form poem and after they have read a couple of poems, they are to determine the form of the sestina.
-
3. Have the students read aloud several times Elizabeth Bishop’s sestina entitled “A Miracle for Breakfast”. Then have the students read Spenser’s sestina.
-
4. Challenge the students to compare the two sestinas in terms of language, subject matter, and form. After discussion the students should realize that both poets used the same form, but Spenser’s use of language is formal while Bishop’s language is more contemporary.
-
5. Have each student copy the pattern of the sestina form using either letters or numbers to demonstrate the form.
-
THE SESTINA FORM
|
Stanza I. A,B,C,D,E,F,
|
Stanza V. D,E,A,C,F,B,
|
|
II. F,A,E,B,D,C,
|
|
|
VI. B,D,F,E,C,A,
|
|
III. C,F,D,A,B,E,
|
|
|
VII. A,B, first line
|
|
|
|
C,D, second line
|
|
IV. E,C,B,F,A,D,
|
|
E,F, third line
|
-
6. Next have the students read aloud George Draper’s “Rink Keeper’s Sestina”. Discuss the variety of subjects that could be used in sestinas. It is essential that the student realize that the choice of subject is important in writing a sestina because the chosen subject must be broad enough to be discussed in a seven stanza poem.
-
7. Have the students consider the parts of speech that have been most frequent word choices of the poets. They should note the overabundance of nouns; a noun choices naming a place, a thing, an idea , or an emotion give the poet much latitude for development of a sestina. Words that can be both noun and verb, words like “state” or “rock” are also wise choices.
-
8. Tell the students that they are going to write sestinas. To insure that they choose subjects that they have a lot of background knowledge, direct them to write a two page composition on any topic of their choice. From their two page writing, they are to select six words for a sestina on the same subject.
-
9. Have the students write a stanza each night. They could begin the writing in class. Encourage the students to use each other as resource people for ideas whenever they get stuck. I also feel that it is important for the teacher, whenever possible, to participate in the creative process with his students. Students should see the struggle and challenge being taken on by their teacher in order to understand that poetry writing is not easy or only for “gifted” people.
-
10. Before the students begin to write their sestinas, make sure they realize that each stanza rearranges the previous stanza’s end-words into the order 6,1,5,2,4,3, and that the seventh stanza matches the first.
