-Paradelle- an 11th century form of poetry re-invented by Billy Collins as a parody. |
You dazzle with savage fluidity You dazzle with savage fluidity, Fallen angel ablaze in the wind Fallen angel ablaze in the wind. Wind ablaze in angel fluidity, With the fallen savage you dazzle. Your belly billows and flutters Your belly billows and flutters Kindling vanity, dignity shudders. Kindling vanity, dignity shudders. Kindling dignity, belly flutters Your vanity billows and shudders. Every which way you sway and slide Every which way you sway and slide To Hades in a serpentine glide To Hades in a serpentine glide A serpentine sway in every way, Which to Hades you glide and slide. A wind billows, fluidity shudders, And every fallen dignity flutters. The savage way in which you dazzle, Kindling Hades with belly ablaze, Angel in serpentine slide, You sway and glide to your vanity. ----------------------- The Poem above is a paradelle. Paradelle is supposedly an eleventh century French form. In poet Billy Collins' words, a paradelle is: ""The paradelle is one of the more demanding French fixed forms, first appearing in the langue d'oc love poetry of the eleventh century. It is a poem of four six-line stanzas in which the first and second lines, as well as the third and fourth lines of the first three stanzas, must be identical. The fifth and sixth lines, which traditionally resolve these stanzas, must use all the words from the preceding lines and only those words. Similarly, the final stanza must use every word from all the preceding stanzas and only these words." |