Read the following villanelle, "The House on the Hill" by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Then, answer the question that follows.

Question

Read the following villanelle, "The House on the Hill" by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Then, answer the question that follows.

They are all gone away,
The House is shut and still,
There is nothing more to say.

Through broken walls and gray
The winds blow bleak and shrill:
They are all gone away.

Nor is there one to-day
To speak them good or ill:
There is nothing more to say.

Why is it then we stray
Around the sunken sill?
They are all gone away,

And our poor fancy-play
For them is wasted skill:
There is nothing more to say.

There is ruin and decay
In the House on the Hill:
They are all gone away,
There is nothing more to say.

How does the villanelle's structure add to the poem's meaning?

Answer 1

The villanelle's structure adds to the poem's meaning by emphasizing the feelings of loss, emptiness, and repetition. The repetition of the lines "They are all gone away" and "There is nothing more to say" reinforces the idea of something being permanently gone and the speaker feeling a sense of finality and hopelessness. The form also creates a sense of confinement, as the repeated lines and strict rhyme scheme force the speaker to circle back to the same words and ideas again and again, mirroring the speaker's inability to move forward or find closure. Overall, the structure of the villanelle enhances the sense of desolation and despair conveyed in the poem.