In The Heart Of Manchester

A villanelle by David Seddon

Gaze round and comprehend St Peter’s Square.

Inhale it in the daytime and at night.

Stand in this heart of Manchester and stare.

Look round the Central Library – (it does too),

Fat seat of knowledge in its stone of white.

Gaze round and comprehend St Peter’s Square.

Haughty beside it stands the fine Town Hall,

Lifting our civic purpose to its height,

Stand in this heart of Manchester and stare.

A little space for thought and hope is next:

Let Cenotaph and Pankhurst put you right.

Gaze round and comprehend St Peter’s Square.

Turn past the trams to where The Midland stands,

Shiny and pompous for the urbanite.

Stand in this heart of Manchester and stare.

The daring, busy mixture of our town

Right here enclosed forever in our sight:

Gaze round and comprehend St Peter’s Square.

Stand in this heart of Manchester and stare.

Note on the form of this poem

A villanelle is a 19-line poetic form known for its fixed structure, musical repetition, and emotional intensity. It consists of five tercets (three-line stanzas) followed by a final quatrain (four-line stanza), with just two rhymes used throughout and two refrains that alternate at the end of each stanza before coming together in the closing lines. This form is especially suited to themes of obsession, reflection, or resistance. One of the most famous examples in English is Dylan Thomas’s Do not go gentle into that good night, a powerful meditation on mortality that showcases the villanelle’s capacity for lyrical urgency and emotional resonance. In the Heart of Manchester shares some of the form’s key features — most notably the use of repeated refrains and a circular, meditative structure—giving it a similarly reflective and unifying effect.