Villanelle Not Villanova (The First Day of School)
Today has not been a normal day in any sense, so my brain's definitely all over the place right now. So here's my sorting through some thoughts, I totally apologize for the randomness, but at least I warned you.
So, school was pretty good, although it was very strange having a first day that was 3 hours delayed. I mean, the first day is already so crazy, this just made it totally insane. No real intense impressions from instrumental music, a bit bigger than I expected at 18. Christine was very intimidated by Mr. Adams's big "ideas not events/math hard" spiel, which I don't really feel like recalling in much more detail than that. It definitely was intense, but I've had enough people throwing intense syllabi (best word ever) at me that I've come to anticipate it. Hayley said she was happy she had Waldman now, although she was quick to point out that it was a slow return on her investment (not that I agree). Certainly, when he was reading a big list of philosophers and I knew that Waldman had talked about or we had read a good portion of them, I felt good. Certainly there is a lot of new stuff, but that was the same for Waldman's class and I did fine there, so if I'm willing to work hard, I don't see why this would be any different. Certainly, after having Waldman and US, I'm feeling mentally prepared. Nice, pretty small class 19-21 not sure there. So-so bunch, though. Then Hayley, Christine, and I went off to Calculus, which was pretty nice. It's already been nice to be across the hall from Mr. T, so I can pop by for a quick chat. That class is even smaller, 14, which is great, and not too many unbearable people. Alex is in the class, which was a nice surprise, as well as Halley Hunt, who made the fourth at our table and sat next to me. We had a lot of fun going down AP Bio memory lane. English is even smaller, 10! With only two boys, Derek and Matt, whose personalities alone are making the room a little crowded. That could be great having such a small class, unless Mr. Wood decides not to like me. God, I hope not, wasn't Mrs. Farell bad enough?
So, the title of this post is sort of an inside joke, but also conveys (what I think is a serious) truth. While quite a few people know what Villanova is, for any number of reasons, not many could tell you what a villanelle is. I guess I first should put out there a little disclaimer that I am, by far, not a villanelle expert. I have told people that I write villanelles, but in fact I've only ever written two. I do this in part as a way of showing my preference for them over say, sonnets. (Which I have nonetheless, written about 9 of for every villanelle I've written). I do definitely write poety (although not much recently) and I used to have somewhat of a natural gift for it. I haven't been doing much of it recently (in part because the emotional states that inspired it are no longer really there at all in my life). Still, while I may not be feeling it right now, writing my R/T fic reminded me that I do in fact remember what it feels like to fall in love, the heart to write is definitely still in me, even if its hiding in some inner Gringotts vault. I really do want to be able to write again because I like showing off my work, I enjoy the process (most especially with villanelles), and I'm sending some poetry as supplemental materials to colleges, so in general, it would be nice to be a poet again. Anyway, to conclude a whole bunch of self-indulgent rambling, I'm jumping back on the poetry bandwagon, for these, and some other unlisted reasons.
Anyway, villanelles. If I was going to tell people in any sort of detail about my poetry habits, I usually tell them that I like to write poetry, particularly structured poems like sonnets and villanelles. People, I assume, really only hear the first, when the second is really what I mean. That's probably part of the allure of the villanelle is that no one really knows what it is, plus sonnets are so cliched. Also, villanelles give a challenge that makes sonnets look like child's work. (Not that Billy S. wants to hear that, I think.) To summarize, a villanelle is a highly structure poem which originated in France. Apparently the French language lends itself very nicely to this style, but it is much harder in English. (I don't know about other romance/germanic languages.....) It must be written with the same number of syllables in every line (usually ten), certain lines must be repeated, and certain lines must rhyme. Here's exactly how its done.
A1 (refrain)
b
A2 (refrain)
a
b
A1 (refrain)
a
b
A2 (refrain)
a
b
A1 (refrain)
a
b
A2 (refrain)
a
b
A1
A2 (refrain)
So, it is immensely difficult to write with acutal meaning in it. The more recent one, which I wrote toward the end of sophomore year, took me three hours to write. I'll post my two villanelles, along with some other poetry, later on, in different posts, but not today. I've got "homework" and other half-mindless duties. Anyway, since I love villanelles so much, I've decided.......
*Can you take the suspsense?*
I'm going to write one for each of the HP couples. Or, at least R/H, H/G, and R/T. I don't really think anyone else inspires me enough. So I'll update you with how that's going, because its going to be a bit of a project, but I want some poetry, and I don't know what else to write about, because my life now consists of nothing but college. Grrrrr....