 a sestina (old occitan: cledisat ; also known as sestine, sextine, sextain) is a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. the words that end each line of the first stanza are used as line endings in each of the following stanzas, rotated in a set pattern. the invention of the form is usually attributed to 12th-century troubadour arnaut daniel; after spreading to continental europe, it first appeared in english in 1579, though sestinas were rarely written in britain until the end of the 19th century. it remains a popular poetic form, and many continue to be written by contemporary poets. ==history== thumb|right|arnaut daniel the oldest-known sestina is "lo ferm voler qu'el cor m'intra", written around 1200 by arnaut daniel, a troubadour of aquitanian origin; he refers to it as "cledisat", meaning, more or less, "interlock". hence, daniel is generally considered the form's inventor,fry 2007 p. 235 though it has been suggested that he may only have innovated an already existing form.davidson 1910 pp. 18â20 nevertheless, two other original troubadouric sestinas are known, the best known being "eras, pus vey mon benastruc" by guilhem peire cazals de caortz; there are also two contrafacta built on the same end-words, the best known being ben gran avoleza intra by bertran de born. these early sestinas were written in old occitan; the form started spilling into italian with dante in the 13th century; by the 15th, it was used in portuguese by luÃ­s de camÃµes. the involvement of dante and petrarch in establishing the sestina form, together with the contributions of others in the country, account for its classification as an italian verse formâdespite not originating there.stratton 1917 pp. 306, 316, 318 the result was that the sestina was re-imported into france from italy in the 16th century.kastner 1903 p. 283 pontus de tyard was the first poet to attempt the form in french, and the only one to do so prior to the 19th century; he introduced a partial rhyme scheme in his sestina.kastner 1903 pp. 283â4 ===english=== the first appearance of the sestina in english print is "ye wastefull woodes"
Poetic_form Rhyme Stanzaic_form Western_medieval_lyric_forms