Definitions for sestinasɛˈsti nə
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word sestina
a highly structured poem consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a tercet or envoy, for a total of thirty-nine lines.
Origin: From sestina.
A sestina is a structured 39-line poetic form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, followed by a three-line stanza, known either as an envoi, tornada, or tercet. 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 sestina is an example of a complex fixed verse form. The invention of the form is usually attributed to Arnaut Daniel, a troubadour of 12th-century Provence, and the first sestinas were written in the Occitan language of that region. The form was cultivated by his fellow troubadours, then by other poets on the continent in subsequent centuries; they contributed to what would become the "standard form" of the sestina. The earliest example of the sestina in English appeared in 1579, though they were rarely written in Britain until the end of the 19th century. The sestina remains a popular poetic form, and many sestinas continue to be written by contemporary poets.
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