Poetic Terms Dictionary
Structure

Refrain

From Old French refraindre: to repeat. The structural backbone of the ballad, villanelle, pantoum, and ghazal. Creates musical recurrence and thematic accumulation.

Definition

A phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at regular intervals in a poem, typically at the end of each stanza.

Example

Frost's 'Stopping by Woods': 'And miles to go before I sleep, / And miles to go before I sleep.'

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