William Empson's introduction to his villanelle, 'Missing Dates', admits how rigid the rules are (and that his has a "stiff" quality") but points to Auden's naturalistic use of the form. Anne Ridler, however, in introducing her 'Villanelle for the Middle of the Way' points out that "to use very strict form is a help, because you concentrate on the technical difficulties of mastering the form, and allow the content of the poem a more unconscious and freer release". Her poem demonstrates this, with its looping meditation returning on itself just as the refrain lines do.
