| Term | Definition |
|---|
| couplet | two lines |
| tercet | three lines |
| quatrain | four lines |
| quintain | five lines |
| sestet | six lines |
| septet | seven lines |
| octet | eight lines |
| blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| heroic couplet | rhymed, closed, iambic pentameter couplets. |
| sonnet | fourteen lines in iambic pentameter with one of several rhyme schemes |
| English sonnet | sonnet that rhymes ababcdcdefefgg, has three quatrains and a couplet. The quatrains present a problem and the couplet makes a comment on it. |
| Italian Sonnet | sonnet that rhymes abbaabba in the octet with some combination of cd and e in the sestet. Octet presents the problem, and the sestet resolves it. |
| Spenserian sonnet | sonnet with difficult rhyme scheme, ababbcbccdcdee. |
| Irregular sonnet | sonnet with any rhyme scheme the poet wants. |
| ballad stanza | quatrain rhyming abcb with the odd-numbered lines in iambic tetrameter and the even numbered lines in iambic trimeter. |
| Spenserian stanza | nine-line stanza with first eight lines in iambic pentameter, and the ninth is an alexandrine, a six-foot line. Rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc. |
| terza rima | tercets rhyming aba, bcb, cdc, etc. with interlocking rhyme. |
| Chaucerian stanza | seven line stanza in iambic pentameter and rhymes ababbcc. |
| Burns stanza | six-line stanza rhyming aaabab. Lines 1,2, 3 and 5 are tetrameter, and lines 4 and 6 are dimeter. |
Combine with other sets
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