_____ _            __     ___ _ _                  _ _
|_   _| |__   ___   \ \   / (_) | | __ _ _ __   ___| | | ___
  | | | '_ \ / _ \   \ \ / /| | | |/ _` | '_ \ / _ \ | |/ _ \
  | | | | | |  __/    \ V / | | | | (_| | | | |  __/ | |  __/
  |_| |_| |_|\___|     \_/  |_|_|_|\__,_|_| |_|\___|_|_|\___|

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~ a meditation on form and obsession ~~~~~~~~~~~~
home archive poetry haiku limerick bard typewriter journal random
today generate form famous thomas about

The Villanelle Generator

A procedurally generated villanelle on the theme of hope. These are not Dylan Thomas—no algorithm could be—but they follow his form.

night
time
memory
love
nature
loss
hope
wandering
When tomorrow waits to grow, I know the lies The wounds slowly heal emerges in the new And what builds now will always new Though wounds slowly heal through the surprise We learn to let the courage finds its voice true When tomorrow waits to grow, I know the lies What seems so rise might come to eyes And every kindness spreads like light will builds and through And what builds now will always new The lies holds more than meets the eye While something emerges in the new When tomorrow waits to grow, I know the lies We cannot know how surprise will try To shape what builds beneath the new And what builds now will always new So when the tomorrow waits to grow emerges by And wounds slowly heal builds in the true When tomorrow waits to grow, I know the lies And what builds now will always new

Seed a Villanelle

Enter any word to generate a unique villanelle:

About Generated Villanelles

These villanelles are assembled from word banks themed to their subject matter. Each theme contains ten rhyming words for the 'a' sound, ten for the 'b' sound, ten images, and ten verbs. The generator constructs refrains and fills in the tercets according to the traditional pattern.

The results are imperfect by design—no algorithm can match human craft. But they demonstrate the form's structure and might spark your own attempts.