Help - Rhyme forms
Terza rima stanza
Three line stanza, commonly iambic pentameter.
Often schemed aba bcb cdc ded ee
Ballad stanza
Four line stanza, usually iambic
Commonly first and third have 4 feet, second and fourth have three.
Rubai
Four line stanza, iambic pentameter
aaba - cf Rubaiyat
Sapphic
Four line stanza, unrhymed, three lines of two trochaic feet,
one dactylic, two trachaic; fourth line of one dactyl and one trochee.
Rhyme Royal
Seven line stanza, commonly iambic pentameter
ababbcc
Ottava Rima
Eight line stanza, commonly iambic pentameter
abababcc
Sicilian octave
Eight line stanza
ababababab
Spenserian stanza
Nine line stanza, first eight in iambic pentameter, last an alexandrine (iambic hexameter).
ababbcbcc
Sonnet
Fourteen lines, considered as one stanza, though possibly eight lines and six,
or two quatrains and two tercets, or four quatrains and a couplet.., iambic pentameter.
abba abba cde cde ; abba abba cdcdcd ; abab cdcd efef gg ; abab bcbc cdcd ee
Ballade
Seven, eight, ten or eleven lines, last line repeated in each stanza
Seven line stanza (ballade royal) - four stanzas - either in iambic tetrameter or pentameter, ababbcC
Eight line stanza - three stanzas and envoi - commonly eight syllables to the line, ababbcbC, envoi bcbC
Ten line stanza - three stanzas and envoi - commonly ten syllables to the line, ababbccdcD, envoi ccdccD
Eleven line stanza (Chant Royal)- five stanzas and envoi - often pentameter, ababccddedE, envoi ccddedE
Ode
Pindaric: succession of groups of a pattern of three stanzas, of any sort.
Horatian: succession of single stanzas following the pattern of the first.
Triolet
Eight line poem, short lines - four to six syllables, often mixwd metre.
Repeated lines: ABaAabAB
Rondel
Ten or fourteen lines, split different ways as quatrains or triplets, commonly eight syllables, only two rhymes.
Repeated lines: ABba abAB abb aAB ; Abb abA abbA
Rondeau
Ten or fifteen line poems, of two or three stanzas respectively, with a short refrain
abbaabR abbaR : aabba aabR aabbaR
Roundel
Eleven line poem, three three line stanzas with refrain, often iambic pentameter
First part of the first line becomes the refrain.
abaB bab abaB ; abaR bab abaR
Villanelle
Any number of triplets, often five and a closing quatrain. iambic tetrameter.
Lines in the first stanza become the refrains. Each refrain line must repeat the same number of times
For example A1bA2 abA1 abA2 abA1 abA2 abA1A2
Pantoum
Poem of any length, of interlinked quatrains, usually abab.
The second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and second of the
next stanza, finally the first and third lines of the
first stanza become the fourth and second lines of the final stanza
Sestina
An unrhymed poem of six stanzas each of six lines followed by a three line envoi.
The end word of each line in the first stanza is repeated in different order as the end word of each line in
the following stanzas and within the envoi.
Haiku
Three line poem. Seventeen syllables. No rhyme or metre.
Line length in syllables: five, seven, five.
Tanka
Five line poem. Thirty one syllables. No rhyme or metre.
Line length in syllables: five, seven, five, seven, seven.
Cinquain
Five line poem or stanza. Twenty two syllables. Iambic metre but not necessarily rhymed.
Line length in syllables - two, four, six, eight, two
Limerick
Five line poem or verse, of unique rhythm (iambs and anapests).
First two and final lines of eight to ten syllables, third and fourth of five or six.
aabba.
Clerihew
Four short lines of uneven length, in two couplets. Normally a pithy biography of the person whose name provides the first line
See also Poetry terms
and Rhyming dictionary
