sestina

American  

[se-stee-nuh] / sɛˈsti nə /

noun

Prosody.

sestinas, plural sestine plural

1. a poem of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy, originally without rhyme, in which each stanza repeats the end words of the lines of the first stanza, but in different order, the envoy using the six words again, three in the middle of the lines and three at the end.

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sestina British  

/ sɛˈstiːnə /

noun

1. Also called: sextain.  an elaborate verse form of Italian origin, normally unrhymed, consisting of six stanzas of six lines each and a concluding tercet. The six final words of the lines in the first stanza are repeated in a different order in each of the remaining five stanzas and also in the concluding tercet

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• sestinas
  plural
• sestine
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sestina

1580–90; < Italian, equivalent to sest ( o ) (< Latin sextus sixth ) + -ina -ine ²

Explanation

A sestina is a strictly patterned poem consisting of six six-line stanzas and a final triplet. It will take you a while to write a sestina for English class — you'd better start writing! The form of a sestina is so complicated it can feel like a math problem to compose one. Sestinas have a total of 39 lines — six six-line stanzas followed by a three-line envoi, or brief stanza. The last word of every line is repeated in a specific pattern, so the six words are rotated through the endings of every single line. The earliest sestinas were composed in the medieval language of Occitan, during the 12th century.

Example Sentences

Guiding 3-1 favourite King Of Steel, trained by Roger Varian for football adviser Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing, from an unlikely winning position, to beat Via Sestina in the day's feature race.

From BBC • Oct. 21, 2023

A Snowflake is a Sestina It takes about an hour after leaving its cloud for a snowflake to reach the ground.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 30, 2022

Its next tallest players are 6-9 forwards Nate Sestina and Ben Jordan - a right-handed pitcher brought over from the baseball team before the season began - and 6-6 Kahlil Whitney.

From Washington Times • Nov. 13, 2019

Its next tallest players are 6-9 forwards Nate Sestina and Ben Jordan — a right-handed pitcher brought over from the baseball team before the season began — and 6-6 Kahlil Whitney.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 13, 2019

"He made the Sestina of Spring which my father envied," the Queen said; and then, with a new eagerness: "Messire, can it be that you are Osmund Heleigh?"

From Chivalry by Elliott, Elizabeth Shippen Green

Related Words

• ballad
• composition
• epic
• lyric
• poetry
• rhyme
• sonnet
• verse
• writing