Children's Reading Hour

A Rondeau poem

Shall I start another book
Of poetry in our story nook?
Where children listen to hear
Poems crafted for their ears,
And crane their necks to look.

Bright inquisitive eyes all gaze
At the story teller, quite amazed.
Sitting in rapt listening silence.
Shall I start another?

Perhaps a child or two will offer to read
Our next chosen poem or story lead
To entertain this young attentive group.
Some kneeling, a few sitting, on a stoop;
“Pick me”, young volunteers plead.
Shall I start another?


Form Information ▶︎

The rondeau form is 15 lines arranged in a quintet, quatrain, and sestet. The last few words of the first line act as a refrain in lines 9 and 15. These refrain lines for not rhyme, but repeating the fragment seems to imply the rest of the line, including the rhyme. The rhyme, therefore, acts invisibly.
The rondeau’s usual rhyme scheme is aabba, aabRefrain, aabbaRefrain. An eight-syllable line is traditional. (pg.357-358)

Mayes, Francis. 1987. The Discovery of Poetry. 2nd Edition. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace.