what is a sestina

A sestina is a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. The sestina is composed of six stanzas of six lines (sixains), followed by a stanza of three lines (a tercet) . There is no rhyme within the stanzas; instead, the sestina is structured through a recurrent pattern of the words that end each line, a technique known as "lexical repetition". The end words of the first stanza are repeated in a specific pattern in each of the following stanzas, rotated in a set order. The envoi also uses the six end-words, but in a different pattern. The sestina is a challenging form to write, as the form demands poets to adhere to a strict format that requires the precise repetition of end words. The sestina originated in France around the year 1200, but was popularized in 14th century Italy by prominent poets like Petrarch, before being popularized in France.