Sestina Generator

Sestina

The sestina is the Rubik's Cube of poetry. It's a 39 line poem built on six repeating end words that rotate through six stanzas in a strict, almost mathematical pattern. Most poets hear the rules and run. The ones who stay produce some of the most hypnotic verse you'll ever read.

Our sestina generator handles the structural heavy lifting so you can focus on what matters, your words, your meaning, your voice. If you've tried shorter forms like our haiku generator, which works well for beginners, think of this as the deep end of the pool.

What Is a Sestina?

A sestina is a fixed-form poem consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a three-line envoi, totaling 39 lines. What makes it distinct isn't rhyme, it's end word repetition. You pick six words, and those same six words appear at the end of every line throughout the poem, rotating positions according to a specific pattern called retrogradatio cruciata. The envoi then packs all six words into just three lines, two per line.

The form traces back to 12th-century Provence and the troubadour poetry tradition. Arnaut Daniel, a poet Dante himself admired, is widely credited with inventing it around 1200 CE. Daniel didn't just write love songs, he engineered them. The sestina was his most intricate creation, designed to prove that obsession could be a structural principle, not just a theme. The words circle back, again and again, the way a fixated mind returns to the same thoughts.

For centuries, this complex form attracted poets who loved constraints. Dante wrote one. Petrarch wrote several. In the 20th century, Elizabeth Bishop revived it in English with devastating effect, and poets like James Merrill and John Ashbery pushed it further. The form endures because repetition, done well, creates meaning. Each time an end word returns in a new context, it shifts. "Light" in stanza one isn't the same "light" by stanza six. That transformation is the whole point. If you enjoy structured verse, our sonnet generator offers a related challenge within fourteen lines and a rhyme scheme rather than rotating end words.

How to Write a Sestina

Start by choosing your six end words. This is the single most important decision you'll make, and it's where most people go wrong. Pick words that are too specific and you'll paint yourself into a corner by stanza three. Pick words that are too vague and the poem will feel limp. You want words with multiple meanings or uses. Words that can function as both noun and verb are gold. "Light," "leaves," "stone," "draw," "rest," "turn", these give you room to maneuver.

Once you've got your six words, write the first stanza in whatever order feels right: ABCDEF. Here's where the word pattern kicks in. Stanza two rearranges those end words to FAEBDC, and each subsequent stanza follows the same spiral logic. The envoi buries one end word mid-line and places another at the line's end, packing all six into a tight closing.

A common mistake is treating the repeated words as a burden instead of an engine. Don't just slot them in and move on. Let each return surprise you. If "leaves" meant tree foliage in stanza one, let it mean "departs" in stanza four. Another trap: writing six disconnected stanzas. The repetition should create a thread of obsession, not a patchwork of unrelated thoughts.

Here's my honest take: the sestina is the most underrated form in English. People flock to sonnets and haiku, but the sestina rewards patience in ways those shorter forms can't. The slow accumulation of meaning across 39 lines creates an almost trance-like effect. It's closer to music than most poetry gets.

Famous Sestina Examples

Elizabeth Bishop's "Sestina" (1965) remains the gold standard. Set in a grandmother's kitchen on a rainy evening, it uses deceptively simple end words to build an atmosphere of quiet grief:

"September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears."
— Elizabeth Bishop, Sestina

Bishop never tells you what the grief is about. The repeating words, especially "tears," do that work through accumulation. By the poem's end, even the almanac is weeping. That's the power of end word repetition done right: the form itself becomes the emotion.

Algernon Charles Swinburne's "The Complaint of Lisa" (1878) takes a different approach, using the obsessive structure to mirror romantic fixation. The lesson from Swinburne: pick a subject that actually benefits from repetition. Love, grief, obsession, memory, these themes and the sestina were made for each other.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a sestina?

A sestina's a fixed-form poem with six stanzas of six lines each, followed by a three-line closing stanza called an envoi. What makes it special is that instead of rhyming, it repeats the same six end-words across all the stanzas in a specific rotating pattern. It's one of the most challenging poetic forms out there, but the repetition creates a hypnotic, almost musical effect.

How do I write a sestina?

Start by choosing six strong end-words that can work in different contexts, nouns or verbs tend to be the most flexible. Then follow the rotation pattern across six stanzas, and wrap up with an envoi that uses all six words. It sounds mechanical, but the constraint actually pushes you to get creative. If you want some inspiration before drafting your own, check out a festive example to see how the form flows.

What are the rules of sestina?

A sestina has pretty strict rules. You need exactly six stanzas with six lines each, plus a three-line envoi at the end. The six end-words rotate through each stanza using a set pattern: 1-2-3-4-5-6 becomes 6-1-5-2-4-3, and so on. The envoi must include all six end-words, typically two per line. There's no required rhyme scheme or meter, so you've got some freedom within the structure.

Can AI write good sestinas?

Honestly, yes, with the right tool. Sestinas are rule-heavy, and AI is actually well-suited to tracking those rotating end-words without losing the thread. A good AI poem generator can handle the technical pattern while still producing lines that feel natural and expressive. It won't always nail the emotional depth of a seasoned poet, but it's a genuinely useful starting point or creative collaborator.

What are famous sestina examples?

Some of the most celebrated sestinas include Elizabeth Bishop's "Sestina," which uses everyday imagery to devastating emotional effect, and Swinburne's "The Complaint of Lisa." Dante and Petrarch wrote early Italian versions that helped establish the form. W.H. Auden's "Paysage Moralisé" is another well-known example. These poems show how the repetition of end-words can build tension and meaning in ways that feel almost inevitable by the final stanza.

AI Sestina Generator