Arts >> Books >> Poetry

Poets Who Wrote Refrain Poems

A refrain in poetry is a word, line or phrase repeated throughout a poem. Refrains appear either at the beginning, middle or end of a stanza. There are three common types of refrain: the repetend, where certain words are repeated throughout the poem; the chorus, which is typically recited by more than one individual but can also be defined as the theme of the poem; and the burden, the most common form of refrain, in which a whole word or phrase is repeated a regular intervals.
  1. Maya Angelou

    • Maya Angelou recieved the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in 2010.

      In Maya Angelou's poem, "Alone," the title word is used in the closing of each stanza as a burden refrain. The poem, "Still I Rise," combines all three common forms of refrain. The title appears at the closing of the first and sixth stanzas slightly modified, representing burden refrain. The repetend refrain is represented by the word "rise," and the chorus is found at the end of the poem, where the phrase "I rise," is repeated seven times in the final stanza.

    Langston Hughes

    • "Dreams," by Langston Hughes, is an example of both repetend and burden refrain. The title word appears once in each stanza, and the burden refrain begins each stanza and contains the title word. "What Happens to a Dream Deferred," is an example of a repetend refrain in that "does it" and "like a" repeat several times throughout the poem.

    William Butler Yeats

    • In William Butler Yeats' "Brown Penny," burden refrain can be found in the closing of each stanza, where the same phrase is repeated. The repeated use of the word "love" is also representative of repetend refrain. In "The Stolen Child," the first three stanzas close with the same burden refrain while the fourth uses a slight variation of the same phrase. "Where" is used as a repetend refrain throughout the poem as well.

    Dylan Thomas

    • In one of his most notable poems, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," Dylan Thomas uses both chorus and burden refrain. The title is repeated as a chorus refrain in the second and fourth stanzas. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light," is used as a burden refrain to close the first and third stanzas. Both the chorus and burden close the fifth and final stanzas together.

    Robert Frost

    • Robert Frost won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four times.

      In one of Robert Frost's most famous poems, "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost utilized a form of repetend refrain to close the poem. Written in iambic tetrameter, the poem consists of four stanzas. The eight syllable closing line is repeated twice in the final stanza in order to maintain the form.

    Edgar Allan Poe

    • Edgar Allan Poe's first collection of poems was published in 1827.

      Burden refrain can be found throughout one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poems, "The Raven," In it, the phrase "ever more" and the word "nevermore" are used alternately to close each stanza. Both refrains were used to emphasize the deep emotions the narrator felt over the loss of his love.

Poetry

Related Categories