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

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~ a meditation on form and obsession ~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The Villanelle Generator

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

night
time
memory
love
nature
loss
hope
wandering
When names carved in trees, I know the smart The letters never sent aches in the dear And what endures now will always dear Though promises we made through the apart We learn to let the names carved in trees clear When names carved in trees, I know the smart What seems so heart might come to part And every names carved in trees will endures and near And what endures now will always dear The smart holds more than meets the eye While something aches in the dear When names carved in trees, I know the smart We cannot know how apart will try To shape what endures beneath the dear And what endures now will always dear So when the names carved in trees aches by And letters never sent endures in the clear When names carved in trees, I know the smart And what endures now will always dear

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.