sestina

A sestina is a fixed verse form consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a three-line envoy (tornada). A primary constraint is the use of six end-words, one from each line in the first stanza, which later recur as line endings in a fixed, rotating pattern throughout the poem.

Six end-words are chosen from the first stanza. In each of the remaining stanzas, those same six words appear again as line endings, in a predetermined order that cycles through the six words across the stanzas. The envoy uses all six end-words as well, typically arranged to cap the poem.

The form originated in medieval Europe, particularly in the Italian and Occitan lyric traditions, around the 12th to 14th centuries. The invention is traditionally attributed to the Sicilian-born poet Giacomo da Lentini, though the exact origin is debated. The sestina was later revived and experimented with by poets in English and other languages.

Meter and language vary by language. Italian sestinas often employ hendecasyllables, while English examples commonly use flexible or iambic meters, adapting the constraints to the language's cadence.

Notable examples include Elizabeth Bishop's Sestina, a well-known English-language poem, and various 20th-century poets who used the form to explore memory, obsession, and reiteration. The sestina remains a demanding exercise in diction and structure, valued for its musical repetition and emotional accumulation.