Which of the following best describes the use of end words in a sestina?

• A. A fixed pattern where six end words recur across lines.
• B. A random set of rhymes.
• C. A free verse with no repetition.
• D. A narrative prose approach.

Answer: (A)

End words in a sestina follow a fixed pattern. A poet selects six end words and places them at the ends of lines, and those same six words recur throughout the poem in a prescribed order across the six stanzas plus a concluding stanza. This deliberate repetition gives the sestina its musical texture and structural unity, as ideas and images return in new connections each time the words reappear. The other descriptions don’t fit because a random set of rhymes lacks a deterministic recurrence, free verse with no repetition ignores the repeating end words, and narrative prose doesn’t use a verse form built on repeated end words.