Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A verse form first used by the Provençal troubadours, consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in varied order as end words in the other stanzas and also recur in the envoy.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A poem in fixed form, borrowed from the French, and said to have been invented by the Provençal troubadour Arnaut Daniel (thirteenth century). It consisted originally of six stanzas of six unrimed lines, with a final triplet or half-stanza, also unrimed—all the lines being of the same length. The terminal words of stanzas 2 to 6 were the same as those of stanza 1, but arranged differently; and they were repeated in the triplet or envoy, partly at the end and partly in the middle of the lines. The modern sestina is written on two or three rimes, and the formula for a two-rimed sestina is thus given in the “Vers Français et leur Prosodie” of the best French authority, M. de Gramont: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; 6, 1, 5, 2, 4, 3; 3, 6, 4, 1, 2, 5; 5, 3, 2, 6, 1, 4; 4, 5, 1, 3, 6, 2; 2, 4, 6, 5, 3, 1; triplet 2, 4, 6 at the end, and 1, 3, 5 at the beginning of the lines. In stanza 1, lines 1, 3, and 4 rime, and 2, 5, and 6 rime. Sestinas were written in Italy by Dante and Petrarch, in Spain and Portugal by Cervantes and Camoens, and in England by Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649). Mr. Swinburne (in “Poems and Ballads,” 2d ser.) has achieved a double sestina.
Wiktionary
Etymologies
- From Italian sestina. (Wiktionary)
- Italian, from sesto, sixth, from Latin sextus; see s(w)eks in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A sestina is a fixed verse form in which six end-words recur in a set order in six stanzas and a three-line envoi (a coda or postscript).”
“A sestina is a highly organized poem with 6 6-line stanzas.”
“The sestina is a lot like a household as seen by a child.”
“The Mona Liza is a sort of riddle, an acrostic, a poetical decoction, a ballade, a rondel, a villanelle or ballade with double burden, a sestina, that is what it is like, a sestina or chant royal.”
“Lassus’s older style is not completely absorbed by these novelties, and in a few pieces his earlier madrigals are recalled the sestina Quando il giorno.”
“Poets behave badly, a Famous Poet once wrote to me after I complained about how another poet sent me a flurry of angry emails for rejecting his sestina.”
“The strictures of the sonnet or villanelle or sestina drive you to see what can be done within those strictures.”
“You get the feeling that, like the villanelle or sestina, concrete poetry is now something that poets try their hand at as a demonstration of their virtuosity rather than a poetic tactic or affinity.”
“For example, if, to validate an applied learning competency at the bachelor's level, an institution offered a project description in which a music student is asked to compose a song music and lyrics in the form of classic German leider and drawing on the Renaissance poetic form of a sestina, the assignment would match the competence and serve as valid assessment evidence.”
The Washington Post: Lumina sets standards for college degrees
“This is my first sestina evar, so I will give myself points for it.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sestina’.
-
Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
-
pixistix's Words
cumquat, circumlocution, panoply, propinquity, contumely, quietus, fardel, tmesis, tipsy, giddy, trudge, vortex and 211 more...
-
elizacole's Words
isomorphic, endemic, tmesis, fillip, antedate, avoirdupois, jeremiad, hypnagogic, antediluvian, fuck, reification, raconteur and 251 more...
-
Clearinghouse
For stuff to simply reside.
calcar, pinion, espadrille, antipodes, peregrine, cormorant, tanager, vireo, farrago, undervest, passerine, oscine and 881 more...
-
The word collector
My collection of words that are intriguing, but don't fit my other lists.
snailery, aplasia, postulant, aigrette, caravel, frigate, capeskin, suffusion, schist, varlet, sepulchral, anisotropy and 317 more...
-
Poetry Terms
Words related to poems and poetry composition, analysis, and exploration.
sestina, iambic, pentameter, sonnet, limmerick, haiku, tanka, meter, foot, rhythm
-
Bibliophilia
codex, matrix, patrix, caesura, incunabulum, syllabic, pictograph, scribe, vernacular, iambic, trochaic, pentameter and 36 more...
-
The (Mis)Communication Station
Various words that deal with communicating, listed here mostly 'cause I wanted them off my default list.
diegesis, sestina, onomatopoeia, meme, infotainment, copyleft, sniglet, engrish, infornography, palaver, entendre, disclosure and 9 more...
-
SCRABBLE - Satine, 6-letter stems
The only letters without a "satine" bingo possibility: J, Q, Y
zeatins, zaniest, sextain, antisex, waniest, tawnies, vainest, natives, naivest, sinuate, aunties, satinet and 55 more...
-
knitandpurl's words
kerfuffle, perspicacious, quiescent, sestina, xaipe, palimpsest, plangently, coriander, cartwheel, cardamom, bergamot, persnickety and 44 more...
-
slippery whispery shiny words
absinthe, vesper, missive, missal, enamel, opaline, opalesce, deliquesce, lithe, limpid, pellucid, lucent and 62 more...
-
Oulipian writing techniques
acronymic poetry, acrostic, alexandrine, algol poetry, anagram, analogue lexicon, anterhymes, antonymy, aphorism, arborescent text, asphyxiation, assonance and 84 more...
-
literary pursuits
flyleaf, dogeared, marginalia, chapter, paperback, edition, typeface, blurb, dust jacket, bibliophile, footnote, appendices and 75 more...
-
poetic notions
villanelle, sestina, acrostic, sonnet, corona of sonnets, wreath of sonnets, ode, octave, quatrain, couplet, tercet, terza rima and 41 more...
-
tongue ticklers
the hall of famers.
hootenanny, turgid, ameliorate, huzzah, kerfuffle, umbrage, pogonophobia, corpulent, slatternly, flagrant, felicitous, spackle and 67 more...
-
Rime Riche
being words relating to the art of poetry
enjambment, prosody, meter, rhyme, foot, scansion, iamb, hexameter, pentameter, caesura, inversion, headless and 45 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sestina.

Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.