What is a sestina? Format and rules
A sestina is a 39-line poem built around six end words. The sestina poem generator can help you build one, using six stanzas of six lines and a final three-line envoi. The count is 36 + 3.
The form developed in medieval Italy. A sestina has no required rhyme scheme or meter; its pattern is six repeated end words in changing contexts.
For example, a last-bus-ride poem might use window, river, amber, silence, stone, and morning. A returning “window” can shift from a barrier to a frame for memory.
If you prefer another fixed form, try the Villanelle Poem Generator. For a story-centered poem, use the Narrative Poem Generator, or browse Poem Types Generators.
How to use the Sestina Poem Generator
Tell the generator what the sestina is about. Type the subject you want to explore, including who the poem is for, in “What is the sestina about.” The length is fixed at 39 lines.
Choose a tone from the “Tone” menu. It starts at “Any tone.” You can also choose Hopeful, Melancholic, Romantic, Dramatic, Wistful, Joyful, Somber, Reflective, Playful, Mystical, Angry, Bittersweet, or Dark.
Add a personal detail, if you want. Use the optional “A detail only you know” text box for something specific you would like the poem to include.
Open “Advanced options.” You can use “Six end words (optional),” choose a “Language” from English and 19 other languages, including Spanish, French, Hindi, Urdu, and Arabic, and select a “Voice”: First person, Second person, Third person, Narrator, or An object or idea speaks. The “Writing style” menu offers Image-rich, Simple and emotional, Rich with metaphor, Classic literary, or Modern and conversational. You can also add a specific request in “Write like a poet.”
Select “Write my poem.” The page scrolls to a chat-style result, with your request first and the poem shown as the reply.
Under the poem, you can use Like, Dislike, Copy, Undo, and Regenerate. Tap any line to choose “New versions of this line” or “Lock line”; locked lines stay in place through every change. At the bottom, describe changes in plain words, such as “make it rhyme” or “mention the lake.” Guests get one free change, while signed-in users can request more.
Sestina examples
These sestina poem examples each follow the full 39-line pattern.
Rain on the last bus — wistful
Rain taps the window. We cross a gray river. Streetlight glows amber. Your seat holds silence. You left a smooth stone. Dawn brings another morning.
Morning whitens the window. Your coat hangs near the window. A pocket hides a stone. We pass another river. No speech breaks the silence. The dashboard turns amber.
Amber pools beside the window. Morning settles on the stone. Our quiet becomes silence. Rain traces down the window. We turn from the cold river. Your promise hardens like stone.
Stone warms beneath the window. The streetlight keeps its amber. We cross the waking river. Morning opens past the window. Your reflection frames the window. Your breathing fills the silence.
Silence gathers by the window. The old bench keeps a stone. The curtain catches morning. Amber deepens near the river. A bicycle passes in the morning. We wander past the river.
We drift along the river. The radio breaks the silence. Timetables mark the morning. I pocket the smooth stone. Amber stains the window. The bus turns toward the window.
I cross the river holding stone. Your silence catches amber. Morning rests against the window.
The recurring bus details gain meaning as the mood moves toward memory and connection.
The community garden — joyful
We sharpen a shovel. A basket holds a tomato. Children burst into laughter. You rebuilt the crooked gate. Warmth settles into summer. A gardener hums like a bee.
Morning hums like a bee. Our spade rests beside a shovel. The soil still remembers summer. We trade a ripe tomato. You latch the wooden gate. Bright voices spill into laughter.
Laughter echoes past the gate. A bee loops through the flowers. We secure the garden gate. Your muddy hands hold a shovel. One warm child offers a tomato. We breathe the end of summer.
Summer dries the handle of our shovel. Neighbors trade familiar laughter. We split the final tomato. A bee searches beyond the gate. You lean against the shovel. Evening closes the gate.
We close the garden gate. Soil settles after summer. Your hand still grips the shovel. The basket keeps our laughter. A bee explores our summer. A child hugs the tomato.
The youngest child lifts a tomato. We leave the garden gate. A bee hums through summer. Our old spade rests beside a shovel. A chorus of laughter. The path begins beside a shovel.
Save one tomato for summer. At the gate, bright laughter. A bee rests on a shovel.
Concrete garden actions keep the upbeat mood consistent while each end word returns in a fresh context.
The empty pool — melancholic
A key hangs inside the door. Chlorine fades from tiled air. The drained pool holds a cold blue. One long crack divides the floor. Dust drifts across the lanes. A lifeguard bell hangs still.
At dusk, we hear the bell. The janitor turns the key. Dust covers the diving board. The air still smells of chlorine. A narrow crack shadows the lane. Winter turns the deep end blue.
Blue spreads across the lanes. No swimmer answers to the bell. A fresh crack opens near the steps. The janitor tests another key. The air still tastes of chlorine. Dust settles where the swimmers stood.
Dust covers stairs and lanes. Blue stains the tiles below. A faint trace of chlorine. The diving bell hangs silent. The locker door waits for a key. One spreading crack divides the floor.
The floor’s thin crack gathers dust. A skin of dust covers lanes. The janitor pockets another key. Blue darkens in the deep end. The diving bell hangs silent. The pool still holds the scent of chlorine.
A trace of chlorine remains. The crack shifts beneath the floor. No swimmer answers to the bell. Dust settles on the diving board. One cold patch remains blue. The locker door opens with a key.
Chlorine hangs beside the dust. A crack divides the blue. The bell rests beside the key.
Cold colors and hard objects suggest loss without naming the feeling directly.
How to write a sestina yourself
To learn how to write a sestina poem by hand, work from the same pattern the tool checks. Plan images before placing them in the rotation.
Pick one moment or subject
Choose a scene that fits 39 lines, such as leaving home, waiting at a station, or cooking a family recipe. A single moment gives each return a clear purpose.
Follow the structure
Label your six end words A through F in their first-stanza order. Then use this sequence:
| Section | End-word order |
|---|---|
| 1 | ABCDEF |
| 2 | FAEBDC |
| 3 | CFDABE |
| 4 | ECBFAD |
| 5 | DEACFB |
| 6 | BDFECA |
| Envoi pairs | BE / DC / FA |
The envoi uses BE on line 37, DC on line 38, and FA on line 39. Each line contains a pair, so all six words appear one last time.
Choose concrete images
Use objects, actions, and sensory details that can return differently. A stone might begin in a pocket and later become a weight of memory, deepening the poem without more explanation.
Read it aloud and revise
Read each stanza without the table, then check the ending order. Fix unclear syntax, repeated sentence shapes, and forced lines while keeping the six words and 39-line count.
Common sestina mistakes to avoid
- Changing an end word. Keep the six words visible and check every ending; one swap breaks the sequence.
- Using the wrong rotation. Copy the table and label each line before drafting.
- Making the envoi a full stanza. Keep it to three lines, with BE, DC, and FA pairs.
- Repeating one sentence shape. Vary openings, lengths, and syntax so the word order carries the pattern.
- Using only broad feelings. Add a visible object, sound, temperature, or action.
- Forcing rhymes. Keep the fixed end words; do not replace a required ending for a rhyme.
Ideas for your next sestina
Try one of these specific prompts:
- Last shift at a summer job
- A grandmother’s handwritten recipe
- Night train across the country
- Flooded neighborhood after a storm
- First snowfall in an empty city
- Herbs growing in a window box
- Backstage at a school play
- The last bus route through town
- Lighthouse during a winter storm
- Moving between two countries