Refrain

A refrain is a line, phrase or group of lines that returns at regular intervals in a poem or song, usually at the end of each stanza.

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" keeps returning to one word. The speaker asks the bird a question, and each answer ends the same way: "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'" By the end, the word has absorbed everything the speaker has lost.

What a refrain does

• Gives the ear something to hold. A repeat is a landmark. Ballads and songs, which began as oral forms, relied on this.
• Builds weight. Each return carries the previous stanzas along with it.
• Shifts meaning. The wording is fixed, and the context moves. That gap between a constant line and a changing situation is where a refrain gets its power.
• Signals the shape. A reader who spots the refrain knows how the poem is built, and its absence in the last stanza is felt.

Related forms

The villanelle is built almost entirely on two refrains. The ballad often uses one. In prose and speech, repeating the start of successive sentences is anaphora, and repeating the end is epistrophe.

Why it matters to a writer or editor

A refrain is a promise: it will mean more the next time. A flat repeat breaks the promise. When editing, read just the refrain in context each time it appears and ask whether it has earned the repeat. Consider varying a word on the last return, which can mark the arrival of the ending, but only if the change is clearly meant.

Read an example

Read an example: "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe (1845), a public domain poem on Bossfeed, where "Nevermore" returns at the end of stanza after stanza.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a refrain and a chorus?

A refrain is a short repeated line or phrase. A chorus is a longer repeated section of a song. In everyday use the words overlap.

Can the meaning of a refrain change?

Yes, and the best ones do. The same words land differently after each stanza because of what came before them.

What is a famous refrain in poetry?

The word 'Nevermore' that closes most stanzas of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven' is among the best known.