Does a sestina (type of poem) have a set pattern?

Question

Hey, I've been given an assignment for school to research and write a sestina. While researching, it says that there are 6, six line stanzas that each end in a word that is mixed up in following stanza. I've seen that a lot of the examples viewed have a set pattern ...Is this a standard pattern or can the six words be in any random order when starting a new stanza?
The pattern I've seen is: first paragraph (1 2 3 4 5 6 ) second paragraph (6 1 5 2 4 3), third paragraph (3 6 4 1 2 5) , fourth paragraph (5 3 2 6 1 4 ), fifth paragraph (4 5 1 3 6 2) and the sixth (2 4 6 5 3 1 ) . Can someone please tell me if this is a standard pattern?

Answer 1

Yes, the sestina has a set structure, the words at the end of each line should not appear at random. You seem to have the pattern down in the right order, though you didn't include the 7th stanza, which is called the tercet. How the tercet is structured may vary, refer to your examples and see if you notice any patterns. Hint: notice the tercet contains not 6 lines, but 3, with two of the end-line words in each line. A sestina is not a true sestina without the tercet.

Answer 2

Sestina Pattern

Answer 3

Form. In a traditional Sestina:


The lines are grouped into six sestets and a concluding tercet. Thus a Sestina has 39 lines.

Lines may be of any length. Their length is usually consistent in a single poem.

The six words that end each of the lines of the first stanza are repeated in a different order at the end of lines in each of the subsequent five stanzas. The particular pattern is given below. (This kind of recurrent pattern is "lexical repetition".)

The repeated words are unrhymed.

The first line of each sestet after the first ends with the same word as the one that ended the last line of the sestet before it.

In the closing tercet, each of the six words are used, with one in the middle of each line and one at the end.

Answer 4

particular, your poem is wonderful and packed with sunshine Like a tarnished jewel of antiquity A cushion pillow to seize the falling gemstones The noise of peace and love is heard between the written words.