Joy A. Burki-Watson

Introduction

 

I have chosen to share a book of poems written in the poetry form of rondeau.

 

“The rondeau began as a lyric form in thirteenth-century France, popular among medieval court poets and musicians. Named after the French word for “round," the rondeau is characterized by the repeating lines of the rentrement, or refrain, and the two rhyme sounds throughout. The form was originally a musical vehicle devoted to emotional subjects such as spiritual worship, courtship, romance, and the changing of seasons. To sing of melancholy was another way of using the rondeau, but thoughts on pain and loss often turned to a cheerful c’est la vie in the final stanza.”  poets.org

 

A well-known example of the rondeau form poem is the Canadian army physician John McCrae’s 1915 wartime poem.

 

In Flanders Fields

 

     In Flanders fields the poppies grow

     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.

 

     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.

 

     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.

 

 

I hope that you enjoy my collection of rondeaux poems that share a diverse amount of themes, topics and aspects of nature as well as the nature of human nature. All of which make our own thoughts reflect back to a time that we remember something similar.  Experience has shown us that history does indeed repeat itself and so do poetic forms.

 

                                                                       ~ Joy A. Burki-Watson