Sestina
Have you ever tried writing a sestina? Good luck. I remember the first time learning about the form in my poetry class. I was deeply disturbed, to say the least. I can’t imagine the mental peril Arnaut Daniel was in when he came up with the recipe in 1579.
A sestina is a six stanza poem consisting of six lines in each stanza, hence the name sestina. After the six stanzas, the poem is followed by a three line stanza called the envoi. The envoi contains all six words used throughout.
Here’s how it works: The last word of each line in each stanza is repeated throughout the entire poem. Aka, pick six words to repeat following a recipe. Here’s the recipe:
My first attempt at writing a sestina was a mess. The story didn’t make any sense, I couldn’t use a consistent tense, and it was just plain ugly. After my Poetry I class finished, I was rejoiced that I never had to see a sestina again…until that is, I took Poetry II. The damn poem came back to haunt me.
Since I recalled how badly my first attempt went, I knew I had to do something different. I thought to myself, “Self, why don’t you use an already familiar story and work your way around the story with the repeating six words?” The result? A much better sestina!!! I chose one of my all-time favorite movies, The Princess Bride, and created a sestina following the plot summary of the movie. Was it still challenging? Yes. Did I sort of cheat with the idea? Yes. Is the sestina much better than anything I would have conjured up myself? YES!
The Princess Bride Sestina
The movie, The Princess Bride,
Is a marvelous tale of true love,
Adventure, and suspense! Westley,
A farmhand, replies, “As you wish”
To every command of Buttercup.
Westley leaves the farm to seek fortune
And is supposedly killed, unfortunately.
Buttercup reluctantly agrees to be the bride
Of Prince Humperdinck. However, Buttercup
Is kidnapped by three outlaws who love
Following the commands of Humperdinck who wishes
To start a war with Guilder. Westley
Is now disguised as a man in black. Westley
Defeats the three outlaws and regains his fortune
By capturing Buttercup who wishes
For the masked man’s death who stole her status as a bride
By killing Westley, her true love.
Pushing him into a gorge, Buttercup
Realizes the man is truly Westley! Buttercup
Throws herself too, for she cannot be without Westley
Any longer. The share a kiss of true love
And navigate the Fire Swamp, which is unfortunately
Infested with *ROUS. Reclaiming his bride,
Humperdinck takes Buttercup in exchange for her wish
To release Westley. Unknown to her, Buttercup’s wish
Is not granted as Westley is tortured. Buttercup
Expresses her unhappiness of being Humperdinck’s bride
And realizes he has no intention of finding Westley.
Inigo and Fezzik reunite and decide to make their own fortune
By avenging Inigo’s father’s death. Love
Is absent at Buttercup and Humperdinck’s ceremony. False love
Is surely rushed as Humperdinck wishes
To have an abridged ceremony. Fortunately,
Revived Westley battles through the castle to rescue Buttercup.
Informing Buttercup that her marriage is null, Westley
Defeats Humperdinck and reclaims his bride.
In good fortune, he whisks his love, Buttercup,
Away with Inigo and Fezzik. Westley’s
Wish is granted as he passionately kisses his bride.
*ROUS= Rodents of Unusual Size
-Nadia Hamidi
Sources:
The Junction Journal 