Refrain

The refrain is a line, group of lines or stanza that recurs periodically at certain points of a poem, most often at the ends of stanzas. The refrain fulfils a compositional-unifying function, lending the work cyclical completeness, reinforcing the through-motif and creating a song-like effect of melodiousness. Recurring in new contexts, the refrain often changes its semantic shade, acquiring each time a deeper or ironically reinterpreted resonance. The refrain is characteristic of folk song and the ballad, as well as of fixed forms — the rondeau, triolet, villanelle — where its return is a structural foundation. In Ukrainian lyric the refrain is actively used to reinforce an emotional leitmotif and to frame stanzas rhythmically.