A Villanelle in Wendy Cope’s “Lonely Hearts”

Excerpts from the Paper

A Villanelle in Wendy Copy's "Lonely Hearts"
“Lonely Hearts,” a poem by British National Poet Wendy Cope, is a villanelle that satirizes the personals of prospective romantic partners seen in print and online. Cope’s skilled use of repetition and enjambment in this particular villanelle, along with her trademark satiric humor, frees her poem from the often constricting format of the villanelle. Cope uses this particular form of poetry to make a powerful and poignant statement about the desperation and loneliness that often attends the desires of those seeking relationships in the competitive market of the urban singles scene.
Cope successfully avoids falling into the stale predictability often produced by working in the villanelle by...

.....them all, “Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night.” Cope captures the emotional turmoil behind many of those who post online ads seeking a partner and demonstrates with humor and genuine insight just how lonely modern life can be. Thomas does much the same in his villanelle, where he captures the desperate, one might even say heroic struggle against death from those closest to its fearsome embrace. Cope however, uses humor and formal experimentation in a way that is unique. It is here where she few peers.
Works Cited
Cope, Wendy. Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis. London ; Boston: Faber and Faber, 1986. Print.
McLaughlin, Damon. "Villanelle". 1999. Essay. (8/23/99): April 6 2011. <http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/CraftOfPoetry/villanelle.html>.