The rondelet is a brief French form of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

. It contains a refrain, a strict

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB r ...

and a distinct

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

pattern. The roundelay is a 24 line poem written in

trochaic tetrameter Trochaic tetrameter is a meter in poetry. It refers to a line of four trochaic feet. The etymology of the word Trochaic is the Greek word ''trokhaios'', from the verb ''trecho'', which means "I run". In classical metre, a trochee is a foot cons ...

. What they have in common is that they both only use two rhyme sounds, and make use of refrains. Rondelet is the diminutive of rondel, a similar, longer verse form. This is the basic structure: * Line 1: A—four syllables * Line 2: b—eight syllables * Line 3: A—repeat of line one * Line 4: a—eight syllables * Line 5: b—eight syllables * Line 6: b—eight syllables * Line 7: A—repeat of line one The refrained lines should contain the same words, however substitution or different use of punctuation on the lines has been common.

Etymology

The term roundelay originates from 1570, from

Modern French French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in No ...

rondelet, a diminutive of rondel meaning "short poem with a refrain," literally "small circle". From

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

rondel, a diminutive of rond meaning "circle, sphere," originally an adjective from roont. The spelling developed by association with lay (noun) "poem to be sung."

Etymology

References

Further reading