How to Use Refrain in Poetry: Poetry Refrain Guide

In poetry, a refrain is a repeated word, line, or group of lines that appears at the end of a stanza. Refrain is a poetic device that uses repetition to place emphasis on a set of words or an idea within a poem. Refrains appear at regular intervals throughout a poem to create a unique rhyme scheme and give the poem its particular rhythm.

A refrain can be used in a number of ways in poetry, from emphasizing a theme to creating a unique rhythm in a poem. There are three common types of refrain in poetry.

1. 1. Repeated words: A repeated single word or short phrase that repeats erratically throughout a poem is called a “repetend.” These repeated lines or words, or alternating a few different repeated lines or words, can contribute to rhyme scheme, emphasize theme, or establish an unexpected rhythm.
2. 2. In a chorus: A chorus is a phrase or collection of phrases that are repeated in a poem or song, typically spoken in unison. A chorus as a refrain often emphasizes the theme of a poem.
3. 3. Repeated phrase: The most common form of refrain—called the burden— is when a whole phrase is repeated at regular intervals throughout the poem. After repeating throughout the poem, the burden is often used in the final line of the poem.

Some of the most famous and memorable poems have used refrain as a literary device. Here are some examples of notable poets using a refrain in their work.

1. 1. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas: Dylan Thomas's famous poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is an example of a villanelle, a nineteen-line poem in which the first and third lines are refrains that appear alternately at the end of each stanza. In Thomas's example, the repeated lines are "Do not go gentle into that good night," and "Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” This repetition emphasizes the narrator’s plea for the subject to stay alive and to fight against “the dying of the light” meaning death.
2. 2. "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe: Poe's famous poem “The Raven” uses varying refrains throughout it. Each six-line stanza ends with a line with the phrase "nothing more" or "Nevermore," which becomes the repetend of the poem. The most famous repeated refrain in the poem is "Quoth the Raven 'Nevermore.'" There are other uses of repetition in each stanza, such as the repetition of the phrase "at my chamber door," the repetition of words creating the powerful rhyming effect in the poem.
3. 3. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost: Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” has a memorable refrain that’s used only twice in the short poem. The last line of the poem, "And miles to go before I sleep," is repeated twice in the last two lines of the poem. This repeated line emphasizes the distance that the narrator must travel before he rests.
4. 4. "Wind, Water, Stone" by Octavio Paz: This is another example of a refrain with variation. Each of Paz's four stanzas ends with a list of the three elements, but each time in a different order, beginning with "Water, wind, stone," and ending with "water, stone, wind."

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