What is the purpose of refrain?

A refrain may serve one of several purposes. It is often
used to reinforce an important thought, idea or phrase through repetition. Think of the
refrain of songs.

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Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory,
hallelujah. Glory, Glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching
on.

A refrain may also help
to establish the rhythmic pattern or mark the end of each stanza of a piece. In Robert
Frost's poem The Pasture, the refrain is the last line of each
stanza.

I'm
going to clean the pasture spring;

I'll only stop to rake
the leaves away

(And wait to watch the water clear away, I
may):

I shan't be gone long. - You come
too.

I'm going out to fetch the little
calf

That's standing by the mother. It's so
young,

It totters when she licks it with her
tongue.

I shan't be gone long. - You come
too.

Refrains may also simply
be nonsense syllables used to fill out a metric pattern or as a break in the story.
Think of all the Christmas carols that use meaningless syllables as part of the
lyrics.

Deck
the halls with boughs of holly!

Fa la la la la, la la la
la.