How to Write a Sestina
By eHow Education Editor
http://www.ehow.com/how_16712_write-sestina.html
A traditional poetic form created by Arnaut Daniel, the sestina is made up of six six-line stanzas and a final three-line envoi. Written in iambic pentameter, the sestina is unique in that the poet is required to end each line using a set pattern of the same six words.
Instructions
Things You’ll Need:
Dictionaries
Thesauri
Step 1:
Consider the subject matter that you wish to write about. Think about words related to your subject that you could use several times throughout your poem.
Step 2:
Write your first stanza (and those that follow) using iambic pentameter. The words that end each line in this stanza (identified as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) will determine the words that end every stanza in your sestina.
Step 3:
Add a second stanza using those words in a 6, 1, 5, 2, 4, 3 order. If you do this correctly, the word used to end the first line of this stanza should be the same one you used in the sixth line of the previous stanza. The second should match the first, and so on.
Step 4:
Write a third stanza using a 3, 6, 4, 1, 2, 5 pattern, followed by a fourth stanza with a 5, 3, 2, 6, 1, 4 pattern. Stanza five should use a 4, 5, 1, 3, 6, 2 pattern, and stanza six should employ a 2, 4, 6, 5, 3, 1 pattern.
Step 5:
Draft a seventh stanza that is three lines in length, using all six ending words in the following places. Your ending words used in the second, fourth and sixth lines must be used halfway through the lines of this stanza. The fifth, third and first ending words of the first stanza are used to end the lines of this stanza, in that order.
Step 6:
Revise as needed.