DIY - Futility Closet

DIY - Futility Closet

In 1888, on reading that the villanelle requires “an elaborate amount of care in production, which those who read only would hardly suspect existed,” British philologist W.W. Skeat tossed off this one: It’s all a trick, quite easy when you know it, As easy as reciting A B C, You need not be an atom of a poet. If you’ve a grain of wit, and want to show it, Writing a villanelle — take this from me — It’s all a trick, quite easy when you know it. Y…