What is a sestina?

• A. A five-act dramatic form
• B. A thirty-nine-line poetic form
• C. A three-line poem
• D. A single-line piece

Answer: (B)

A sestina is a long, highly structured poem that uses a fixed set of end words rather than rhyme. It consists of six six-line stanzas followed by a three-line envoi, totaling 39 lines. The six end words are chosen from the first stanza, and in each subsequent stanza they appear at the end of lines in a rotating pattern, so each word shifts position in a precise sequence until all stanzas are written. The final three lines (the envoi) weave those end words into a concluding voice. This combination of length (39 lines) and the strict rotating end-word pattern is what defines a sestina. That matches the description of a thirty-nine-line poetic form. By contrast, a five-act dramatic form describes a play, a three-line poem is just a tercet, and a single-line piece is a monostich, none of which capture the distinctive sestina structure.