The virelai nouveau is a poetic

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 form that is both rare and difficult to use. Its chief characteristic is the use of a double refrain

Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...

 and the fact that is uses two rhyme

Rhyme

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...

s only. The poem opens with a couplet

Couplet

A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...

 and these two lines are used as the refrain in alternating stanza

Stanza

In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...

s. The poem ends with an envoi, the last two lines being a repeat of the opening couplet, often in reverse order. There is no set number of lines per stanza or of the patterning of the rhymes, but an example rhyme scheme

Rhyme scheme

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme between lines of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme. In other words, it is the pattern of end rhymes or lines...

 could be A1-A2-b-a-b-a-A1, a-a-b-a-b-a-A2, a-b-A2-A1.

The form is more common in French poetry

French poetry

French poetry is a category of French literature. It may include Francophone poetry composed outside France and poetry written in other languages of France.-French prosody and poetics:...

, but has been used by English

English poetry

The history of English poetry stretches from the middle of the 7th century to the present day. Over this period, English poets have written some of the most enduring poems in Western culture, and the language and its poetry have spread around the globe. Consequently, the term English poetry is...

 poets including Austin Dobson

Henry Austin Dobson

Henry Austin Dobson , commonly Austin Dobson, was an English poet and essayist.-Life:He was born at Plymouth, the eldest son of George Clarisse Dobson, a civil engineer, of French descent. When he was about eight, the family moved to Holyhead, and his first school was at Beaumaris in Anglesey...

.

An Example

The first two stanzas from July by Dobson

Good-bye to the Town! good-bye!

Hurrah! for the sea and the sky!

In the street the flower-girls cry;

In the street the water-carts ply:

And a fluter, with features awry,

Plays fitfully, "Scots, who hae" --

And the throat of the fluter is dry;

Good-bye to the Town! good-bye!

And over the rooftops nigh

Comes a waft like a dream of May;

And a ladybird lit on my tie;

And a cockchafer came with the tray;

And a butterfly (no one knows why)

Mistook my aunt's cap for a spray;

And "next door" and "over the way"

The neighbours take wing and fly:

Hurrah! for the sea and the sky!