Denouement Villanelle
Denouement Villanelle - form Summary
Villanelle's Repeating, Diminishing Refrain
Plath uses the strict villanelle form to trap the speaker in repeating lines that function as refrains. The alternating return of The telegram says you have gone away
and There is nothing more for me to say
creates a ritual rhythm that registers both shock and resignation. Each stanza adds collapsing circus images, so the fixed form amplifies cumulative decline and a sense of inevitability rather than resolution.
The telegram says you have gone away And left our bankrupt circus on its own; There is nothing more for me to say. The maestro gives the singing birds their pay And they buy tickets for the tropic zone; The telegram says you have gone away. The clever woolly dogs have had their day They shoot the dice for one remaining bone; There is nothing more for me to say. The lion and the tigers turn to clay And Jumbo sadly trumpets into stone; The telegram says you have gone away. The morbid cobra's wits have run astray; He rents his poisons out by telephone; There is nothing more for me to say. The colored tents all topple in the bay; The magic saw dust writes: address unknown. The telegram says you have gone away; There is nothing more for me to say.
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