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The Rondeau is a form of verse which makes use of refrains, repeated according to a certain stylized pattern.
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It was customarily regarded as a challenge to arrange for these refrains to contribute to the meaning of the poem in as succinct and poignant a manner as possible.
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The rondeau consists of thirteen lines of eight syllables, plus two refrains (which are half lines, each of four syllables), employing, altogether, only three rhymes. It has three stanzas and its rhyme scheme is as follows:
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(1) A A B B A
(2) A A B with refrain: C
(3) A A B B A with concluding refrain C.
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The refrain must be identical with the beginning of the first line.
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Example:
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We Wear the Mask
by Paul Laurence Dunbar:
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We wear the mask that grins and lies, (A)
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,� (A)
This debt we pay to human guile; (B)
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, (B)
And mouth with myriad subtleties. (A)
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Why should the world be over-wise, (A)
In counting all our tears and sighs? (A)
Nay, let them only see us, while (B)
We wear the mask. (C)
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We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries (A)
To thee from tortured souls arise. (A)
We sing, but oh the clay is vile (B)
Beneath our feet, and long the mile; (B)
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But let the world dream otherwise, (A)
We wear the mask! (C)
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Perhaps the best-known rondeau is the following
World War I poem:
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In Flanders Fields, by John McCrae:
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In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
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We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
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Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.