What does the sestina form consist of in terms of lines and structure?

• A. Thirty-nine lines with a specific pattern of six end words.
• B. Twenty-four lines with four end words repeated.
• C. Fifty lines with ten end words repeated.
• D. Twelve lines with three end words.

Answer: (A)

A sestina is a fixed poetic form built around repetition of six end words. The poem unfolds in six six-line stanzas, and a final three-line envoy. All six end words are used at the ends of lines, but in a strict rotating pattern from stanza to stanza, so the same six words keep reappearing in a determined sequence. All of this adds up to 39 lines in total. That combination—thirty-nine lines plus six end words repeated in a precise order—defines the form. The other descriptions would describe different structures, not a sestina, which is why they don’t fit.