Villanelle for Anne Boleyn

Posted By on February 25, 2011

Anne Boleyn Files visitor, Jennifer Morrison, has written a beautiful poem about Anne Boleyn which she wanted to share with everyone here:-

Villanelle for Anne Boleyn


Circa regna tonat—her echo,
Faint beneath the sound of sword to bone:
Defiled is my name full sore

Through cruel spite and false report;
Twice postponed, not yet past her pains.
Circa regna tonat, a mother’s tear

At a daughter’s loss, at the crownless
Bastard daughter of a bastard
king. Defiled is my name full sore—

But not cowed. Not cowed.
Thankfully, Master Kingston, I have a little neck–
Her nervous laugh, circa regna tonat,

Wrapped in red and ermine.
Unto my fame a mortal wound—
Defiled is my name full sore,

But every inch a queen.
For wrongly ye judge of me—
Defiled is my name full sore,

Her echo, circa regna tonat.

~by Jennifer Morrison

13 thoughts on “Villanelle for Anne Boleyn”

  1. Melissa Marie Wells says:

    That’s excellent, I love it!

  2. Robert Parry says:

    That’s so good.
    ‘around the throne, the thunder roars’

  3. adamantixx says:

    love it!
    a wonderful tribute to one of the most enigmatic and unforgettable women in history.

  4. lisaannejane says:

    Beautiful. Good writers are like painters with words,

  5. Katy says:

    Fabulous 🙂 <3

  6. Fiz says:

    It’s so good because it’s taken from Wyatt’s poem which also repeats these lines!

  7. Eliza M. L. says:

    Beautiful poem; it got under my skin, and I LOVE when writing does that.

  8. John Early says:

    This sounds contemporaneous to Anne Boleyn, which is the best compliment I can make. Great work, Jen!! The beautiful Anne was beautiful inside as well as outside. Like Mary Queen of Scots, for one other, she did not deserve to die so ingloriously; she was but a pawn in a much bigger game. (N.B.: I first learned about Anne Boleyn from the books of Thomas Costain, which supplemented my Bachelor’s degree in English Lit. from New York University.)

  9. Noelle7 says:

    That’s gorgeous!

  10. Sabrina says:

    It was wonderful!!!!!!

  11. Sharon says:

    A very lovely poem. Thanks for sharing.

  12. Katie says:

    I loved it. Anne deserves such beautiful poetry as this! Both she and Thomas Wyatt would approve I think..

  13. Anne Barnhill says:

    Love that you use words from the Wyatt poem–and love that form!

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