Roundel (poetry)


A roundel is a form of verse used in English language poetry devised by Algernon Charles Swinburne. It is the Anglo-Norman form corresponding to the French rondeau. It makes use of refrains, repeated according to a certain stylized pattern. A roundel consists of nine lines each having the same number of syllables, plus a refrain after the third line and after the last line. The refrain must be identical with the beginning of the first line: it may be a half-line, and rhymes with the second line. It has three stanzas and its rhyme scheme is as follows: A B A R ; B A B ; A B A R ; where R is the refrain.
Swinburne had published a book A Century of Roundels. He dedicated these poems to his friend Christina Rossetti, who then started writing roundels herself, as evidenced by the following examples from her anthology of poetry: Wife to Husband; A Better Resurrection; A Life's Parallels; Today for me; It is finished; From Metastasio.

Examples

Swinburne’s first roundel was called "The roundel":

A roundel is wrought as a ring or a starbright sphere, '
With craft of delight and with cunning of sound unsought, '
That the heart of the hearer may smile if to pleasure his ear '
A roundel is wrought. '
Its jewel of music is carven of all or of aught - '
Love, laughter, or mourning - remembrance of rapture or fear - '
That fancy may fashion to hang in the ear of thought. '
As a bird's quick song runs round, and the hearts in us hear '
Pause answer to pause, and again the same strain caught, '
So moves the device whence, round as a pearl or tear, '
A roundel is wrought.

Swinburne’s poem "A baby's death" contains seven roundels. The fourth roundel became the song "," set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar.