Acrostic
Poetry that certain letters, usually the first in each line form a word or message when read in a sequence.
 

Alliteration
Alliterations are sentences or phrases that contain words that repeat the same beginning consonant sounds. The initial sounds of a word, beginning either with a consonant or a vowel, are repeated in close succession.
 

Ballad
A story in a song, usually a narrative song or poem. Any form of story may be told as a ballad (not to be confused with a ballade), ranging from accounts of historical events to fairy tales in verse form. It is usually with foreshortened alternating four- and three-stress lines ('ballad meter') and simple repeating rhymes, and often with a refrain.
 

Ballade
The ballade is a verse form typically consisting of three eight-line stanzas, each with a consistent metre and a particular rhyme scheme. The last line in the stanza is a refrain, and the stanzas are followed by a four-line concluding stanza (an envoi) usually addressed to a prince. (The ballade should not be confused with the ballad.) The rhyme scheme is therefore usually 'ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC', where the capital 'C' is a refrain. There are many variations to the ballade, and it is in many ways similar to the ode and chant royal. There are instances of a double ballade and double-refrain ballade. Some ballades have five stanzas; a ballade supreme has ten-line stanzas rhyming ababbccdcD, with the envoi ccdcD or ccdccD. A seven-line ballade, or ballade royal, consists of four stanzas of rhyme royal, all using the same three rhymes, all ending in a refrain, without an envoi.
 

Bio
A poem written about one self's life, personality traits, and ambitions.
 

Blank verse
A type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no rhyme. In English, the meter most commonly used with blank verse has been iambic pentameter. The iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of speech. Verse that does not employ a rhyme scheme. Blank verse, however, is not the same as free verse because it employs a meter e.g. Paradise Lost by John Milton which is written in iambic pentameters.
 

Burlesque
Poetry that treats a serious subject ridiculously, humorously, or is simply a trivial story.
 

Canzone
Medieval Italian lyric style poetry with five or six stanzas and a shorter ending stanza.
 

Carpe Diem
Latin expression that means 'seize the day.' Carpe diem poems have a theme of living for today.
 

Chant Royal
The chant royal is a poetic form that consists of five eleven-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d-e-d-E and a five-line envoi rhyming d-d-e-d-E or a seven-line envoi c-c-d-d-e-d-E.
 

Chastushka
A type of traditional Russian poetry, is a single quatrain in trochaic tetrameter with an abab or abcb rhyme scheme. Usually humorous, satirical, or ironic in nature, chastushkas are often put to music as well, usually with balalaika or accordion accompaniment. The rigid, short structure (and, to a lesser degree, the type of humor used) parallels limericks in British culture.
 

Cinqku
Cinqku: invented by Denis Garrison as a closer analogue to haiku than the American Cinquain (Adelaide Crapsey), minimizing the utility of the line break technique. Cinqku follows a strict 17 syllable count arranged in five successive lines of 2-3-4-6-2 syllables. No title is used for single verse cinqku poems which are written in haiku- style free diction and syntax with no metrical requirement; a turn is used that may be similar to kireji in haiku or cinquain. Sequence, crown, and mirror, cinqku may be titled.
 

Cinquain
The modern cinquain is based on a word count of words of a certain type.

Line 1 has one word (the title).
Line 2 has two words that describe the title.
Line 3 has three words that tell the action.
Line 4 has four words that express the feeling
Line 5 has one word which recalls the title.

The traditional cinquain is based on a syllable count. Twenty-Two syllables in the following pattern (2-4-6-8-2) The traditional cinquain is based on a syllable count. It has five lines, and often, one word in the first line, two words in the second line etc.

line 1 - 2 syllables
line 2 - 4 syllables
line 3 - 6 syllables
line 4 - 8 syllables
line 5 - 2 syllables

There are more variations of the Cinquain form.

 

Classicism
Poetry which holds the principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature.
 

Clerihew
A Clerihew (or clerihew) is a very specific kind of short humorous verse, typically with the following properties: It is biographical and usually whimsical, showing the subject from an unusual point of view; but it is hardly ever satirical, abusive or obscene; It has four lines of irregular length (for comic effect); The first line consists solely (or almost solely) of a well-known person's name.
 

Concrete
A concrete poem is one that takes the shape of the object it describes. This is different from a Shape poem, in that a Shape poem does NOT have to take the shape of the object it describes.
 

Couplet
Rhyming stanzas made up of two lines. A pair of lines of a verse that form a unit. Some couplets rhyme aa, but this is not a requirement.
 

Cowboy
Cowboy poetry is rhymed, metered verse written by someone who has lived a significant portion of his or her life in Western North American cattle culture. The verse reflects an intimate knowledge of that way of life, and the community from which it maintains itself in tradition.
 

Crown of Sonnets
A crown of sonnets or sonnet corona is a sequence of sonnets, usually addressed to some one person, and/or concerned with a single theme. It is a 7-sonnet sequence in which the last line of each sonnet is repeated in the first line of the next. The first and last lines of the sequence are also strict repetends; this gives the sequence its crown-like circularity.
 

Crystalline
A two line image poem, often with a title, in which euphony is the key factor. Each line may have 8 or 9 syllables to make a total of seventeen.
 

Diamante
The purpose is to go from the subject at the top of the diamond to another totally different (and sometimes opposite) subject at the bottom. A seven line poem, shaped like a diamond.
 

Didactic
A form of verse, the aim of which is to instruct the mind and improve morals. It essentially lays out a body of detailed information for the reader with the aim of molding the reader into a certain ethical or religious frame of mind.
 

Diminished Hexaverse
A poem containing stanzas of 5 lines, then 4 lines, then 3 lines, then 2 lines, ending with one word. The syllables in each stanza correspond to the number of lines, i.e. 5 in each line in the first stanza, 4 in the second stanza and so on. This form may contain more than five stanzas.
 

Dizain
Ten lines rhymed a b a b b c c d c d; usually (though not by definition) iambic pentameter. This is a Dizain chain. This is originally a French form and initially would have been made up of eight syllablelines, but later ten syllable lines were also used. The few examples of this form in England did prefer Iambic Pentameter, but that's purely up to the poet. The rhyme scheme is: a. b. a. b. b. c. c. d. c. d.
 

Dodoitsu
The Dodoitsu is a fixed folk song form of Japanese origin and is often about love or humor. It has 26 syllables made of of four lines of 7, 7, 7, 5 syllables respectively. It is unrhymed and non-metrical.
 

Double Dactyl
A verse form, also known as "higgledy piggledy," invented by Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal. Like a limerick, it has a rigid structure and is usually humorous, but the double dactyl is considerably more rigid and difficult to write. There must be two stanzas, each comprising three lines of dactylic dimeter followed by a line with a dactyl and a single accent. The two stanzas have to rhyme on their last line. The first line of the first stanza is repetitive nonsense. The second line of the first stanza is the subject of the poem, a proper noun (usually someone's name). Note that this name must itself be double-dactylic. There is also a requirement for at least one line of the second stanza to be entirely one double dactyl word, for example "va-le-dic-tor-i-an".
 

Dramatic monologue
A type of long lyric poem, developed during the Victorian period, in which a character in fiction or in history delivers a lengthy speech explaining his or her feelings, actions, or motives.
 

Dramatic Verse (Verse Drama)
Any drama written as verse to be spoken; another possible general term is poetic drama.
 

Ekphrasis (Ecphrasis)
Ekphrasis, alternately spelled ecphrasis, is a term used to denote poetry or poetic writing concerning itself with the visual arts, artistic objects, and/or highly visual scenes. This style of writing is characteristic in such works as Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn," Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and Shelley's "On the Medusa of Leonardo da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery."
 

Elegy
A poem of mourning, or, a sad and thoughtful poem about the death of an individual.
 

Enclosed Rhyme
The rhyme scheme "abba" (that is, where the first and fourth lines, and the second and third lines rhyme).
 

Epic
An extensive, serious poem that tells the story about a heroic figure. A broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature. It retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons.
 

Epigram
A very short, ironic and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain. The term is derived from the Greek epigramma meaning inscription.
 

Epitaph
A commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written to praise the deceased.
 

Epithalamium
A poem written in honor of the bride and groom.
 

Epulaeryu
The “Epulaeryu” poem is about delicious food. It consists of seven lines with thirty-three (33) syllables. The first line has seven syllables, the second line five, the third line seven, the fourth line five, the fifth line five, the sixth line three, and the seventh line has only one syllable which ends with an exclamation mark. Each line has one thought relating to the main course. Therefore, this new poetic form, the Epulaeryu, which has corresponding lines built around the main course, and ending with an exclamation point, concludes with the ending line expressing the writer’s excitement and feelings about the poem.
 

Epyllion
A brief narrative poem with a romantic or mythological theme.
 

Etheree
Created about twenty years ago by an Arkansas poet named Etheree Taylor Armstrong, this titled form, the Etheree, consists of ten lines of unmetered and unrhymed verse, the first line having one syllable, each succeeding line adding a syllable, with the total syllable count being fifty-five.
 

Fibonacci
The number of syllables in each line must equal the sum of the syllables in the two previous lines. So, start with 0 and 1, add them together to get your next number, which is also 1, 2 comes next, then add 2 and 1 to get 3, and so on. Fibonnaci: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21... Poetry: 1 syllable, 1 syllable, 2 syllables, 3 syllables, 5 syllables, 8 syllables, 13 syllables, 21 syllables...
 

Free verse (vers libre)
A term describing various styles of poetry that are not written using strict meter or rhyme, but that still are recognizable as 'poetry' by virtue of complex patterns of one sort or another that readers can perceive to be part of a coherent whole.
 

Ghazal
A poetic form consisting of couplets which share a rhyme and a refrain.
 

Grook
A form of short aphoristic poem characterized by irony, paradox, brevity, precise use of language, sophisticated rhythms and rhymes and often satiric nature.
 

Haiku
(Hokku)A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, usually about some form of nature.
 

Heroic Couplets
A traditional form for English poetry, commonly used for epic and narrative poetry; it refers to poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming pairs of iambic pentameter lines.
 

Iambic Pentameter
A meter in poetry, consisting of lines with five feet (hence "pentameter") in which the iamb is the dominant foot (hence "Iambic"). Iambic rhythms are quite easy to write in English and iambic pentameter is among the most common metrical forms in English poetry. Like the rest of the meters it has its origins in Greek poetry.
 

Idyll (Idyl)
Poetry that either depicts a peaceful, idealized country scene or a long poem telling a story about heroes of a bye gone age.
 

Imagism
Name given to a movement in poetry aimed at clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images. In the early period often written in the French form Imagisme. To use the language of common speech, but to employ the exact word, not the nearly-exact, nor the merely decorative word.
 

Italian Sonnet
A sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba followed by six lines with a rhyme pattern of cdecde or cdcdcd. Lay - A long narrative poem, especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels.
 

Kimo
A post-Haiku poetic form , consisting of three lines of 10, 7, and 6 syllables. This form of poetry was invented in Israel.
 

Kyrielle
A kyrielle is written in rhyming couplets or quatrains. It uses the phrase "Lord have mercy", or a variant on it, as a refrain as the second line of the couplet or last line of the quatrain. In less strict usage, other phrases like "O God, be merciful to me", and sometimes single words, are used as the refrain.
 

Lanterne
A type of poem that has one syllable in the first line, two syllables in the second line, three syllables in the third line, four syllables in the fourth line, and one syllable in the fifth line that related to the first word of the poem.
 

Lay
A long narrative poem, especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels.
 

Light Poetry
Light poetry, also called light verse, is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Poems considered "light" are usually brief, and can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature wordplay, including puns, adventurous rhyme and heavy alliteration.
 

Limerick
A limerick is a five-line, often humorous and ribald poem with a strict meter. Lines 1, 2, and 5 of have seven to ten syllables (three metrical feet) and rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven (two metrical feet) syllables and also rhyme with each other. The rhyme scheme is usually "A-A-B-B-A".
 

List
A poem that is made up of a list of items or events, usually without transitional phrases. It can be any length and rhymed or unrhymed.
 

Lyric
A poem that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet.
 

McWhirtle
A light verse form similar to a double dactyl, invented in 1989 by American poet Bruce Newling. McWhirtles share essentially the same form as double dactyls, but without the strict requirements, making them easier to write.
 

Monorhyme
An identical rhyme on every line, common in Latin and Arabic. "aaaaa..."
 

Name
Poetry that tells about the word. It uses the letters of the word for the first letter of each line.
 

Narrative
Narrative poetry is poetry that tells a story. In its broadest sense, it includes epic poetry; some would reserve the name narrative poetry for works on a smaller scale and generally with more direct appeal to human interest than the epic.
 

Nonet
A nonet has nine lines. The first line has nine syllables, the second line eight syllables, the third line seven syllables, etc... until line nine that finishes with one syllable. It can be on any subject and rhyming is optional. line 1 - 9 syllables line 2 - 8 syllables line 3 - 7 syllables line 4 - 6 syllables line 5 - 5 syllables line 6 - 4 syllables line 7 - 3 syllables line 8 - 2 syllables line 9 - 1 syllable
 

Ode
A lengthy lyric poem typically of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanza structure. A classic ode is structured in three parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist.
 

Ottava rima
The ottava rima stanza in English consists of eight iambic lines, usually iambic pentameters. Each stanza consists of three rhymes following the rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-a-b-c-c. The form is similar to the older Sicilian octave, but evolved separately and is unrelated. The Sicilian octave is derived from the medieval strambotto and was a crucial step in the development of the sonnet, whereas the ottava rima is related to the canzone, a stanza form.
 

Pantoum
A rare form of poetry similar to a villanelle. It is composed of a series of quatrains; the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next. This pattern continues for any number of stanzas, except for the final stanza, which differs in the repeating pattern. The first and third lines of the last stanza are the second and fourth of the penultimate; the first line of the poem is the last line of the final stanza, and the third line of the first stanza is the second of the final. Ideally, the meaning of lines shifts when they are repeated although the words remain exactly the same: this can be done by shifting punctuation, punning, or simply recontextualizing.
 

Parallelismus Membrorum
Parallelismus Membrorum is of traditional Hebrew origin. It has lines of parallel construction and presents antitheses and complementary extensions. The lines are usually short and contain three or four words.
 

Pastoral
A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, romanticized way.
 

Personification
A form of poetry in which human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things. Personification offers the poet a way to give the world life and motion by assigning familiar human behaviors and emotions to animals, inanimate objects, and abstract ideas.
 

Prose Poetry
Prose poetry is usually considered a form of poetry written in prose that breaks some of the normal rules associated with prose discourse, for heightened imagery or emotional effect, among other purposes. Arguments continue about whether prose poetry is actually a form of poetry or a form of prose (or a separate genre altogether). Like poetry (intense, sculpted) but without line breaks
 

Quatern
A Quatern is a sixteen line French form composed of four quatrains. It is similar to the Kyrielle and the Retourne. It has a refrain that is in a different place in each quatrain. The first line of stanza one is the second line of stanza two, third line of stanza three, and fouth line of stanza four. A quatern has eight syllables per line. It does not have to be iambic or follow a set rhyme scheme. line 1 line 2 line 3 line 4 line 5 line 6 (line 1) line 7 line 8 line 9 line 10 line 11 (line 1) line 12 line 13 line 14 line 15 line 16 (line 1)
 

Quatrain
A stanza or poem consisting of four lines. In the basic form, Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme while having a similar number of syllables.
 

Quintain (English)
This is much more popular form of Quintet having no set measure or foot and has a rhyming scheme of a. b. a. b. b.
 

Quintain (Sicilian)
Written in Iambic Pentameter with a rhyme sequence of a.b.a.b.a. This form has been used by many great poets and like the Tanka it is a valid and wonderful poetry form in it's own write.
 

Quintella
This is a Spanish form of eight syllable (Iambic Tetrameter) lines. The rhyming scheme can vary in presentation ie a.a.b.b.a, a.b.b.a.a. etc but only two consecutive lines may have the same rhyme scheme.
 

Rengay
Rengay is a contemporary six-verse form of linked haiku based on a unifying theme. Written by 2-3 partners, each link should be able to stand on its own. Derived from renku, but much different, theme development is the key element of rengay. Rengay incorporates the "link and shift" idea of renku, but its brevity makes it easier to read (and publish). Because it is thematic, it is more accessible. Rengay was developed in 1992 by Garry Gay, co-founder of the Haiku Poets of Northern California, and the organization's first president from 1989-1990. In 1991, he was elected president of the Haiku Society of America.
 

Rhyme
A rhyming poem has the repetition of the same or similar sounds of two or more words, often at the end of the line.
 

Rhyme royal
A type of poetry consisting of seven lines, usually in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-b-c-c. In practice, the stanza can be constructed either as a tercet and two couplets (a-b-a, b-b, c-c) or a quatrain and a tercet (a-b-a-b, b-c-c). This allows for a good deal of variety, especially when the form is used for longer narrative poems and along with the couplet, it was the standard narrative metre in the late Middle Ages.
 

Rictameter
A rictameter is a nine line poetry form. The 1st and last lines are the same with the syllable count as follows: • line 1 - 2 syllables - same as line 9 • line 2 - 4 syllables • line 3 - 6 syllables • line 4 - 8 syllables • line 5 - 10 syllables • line 6 - 8 syllables • line 7 - 6 syllables • line 8 - 4 syllables • line 9 - 2 syllables - same as line 1
 

Romanticism
A poem about nature and love while having emphasis on the personal experience.
 

Rondeau
A rondeau (plural rondeaux) is a form of French poetry with 15 lines written on two rhymes. Variant forms may have 10 or 13 lines. It makes use of refrains, repeated according to a certain stylized pattern. It was customarily regarded as a challenge to arrange for these refrains to contribute to the meaning of the poem in as succinct and poignant a manner as possible. The rondeau consists of thirteen lines of eight syllables, plus two refrains (which are half lines, each of four syllables), employing, altogether, only three rhymes. It has three stanzas and its rhyme scheme is as follows: (1) A A B B A (2) A A B with refrain: C (3) A A B B A with concluding refrain C. The refrain must be identical with the beginning of the first line.
 

Rondeau Redouble
The rondeau redouble is the French translation of a double rondeau. Consisting of 25 lines, it features a four-line refrain which forms the first quatrain. These four lines are then used successively as the last lines of the following four quatrains. The sixth and final stanza is a quintrain which contains no repetition of previous lines; it does, however, include a 'tail' which is the beginning clause or phrase from line one. The same two rhymes are used throughout and the rhyming scheme is as follows: Stanza One A1B1A2B2 Stanza Two abbA1 Stanza Three abaB1 Stanza Four babA2 Stanza Five abaB2 Stanza Six abab tail from line one
 

Sapphic stanza
The Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is a poetic form spanning four lines. The form is three hendecasyllabic lines of trochee, trochee, dactyl, trochee, trochee and a concluding line of dactyl, trochee, known as the Adonic or adonean line. Using "-" for a long syllable, "u" for a short and "x" for an "anceps" (or free syllable):
 

Sedoka
Sedoka is a Japanese verse form that evolved from ancient songs. They can be mood poems, similar to tanka, or they can tell stories in the manner of a song. Sedoka consist of 6 lines of 5-7-7-5-7-7 syllables respectively. Each 5-7-7 unit is called a katauta. Traditionally, the second katauta says the same thing as the first katauta, although in a different way. In modern English the syllable count is somewhat more flexible, and there is usually a turn, or change in direction, in lines 3 and 5. The turn in line 3 is sharp, and the turn in line 5 is gentle.
 

Senryu
A short Japanese style poem, similar to haiku in structure, however, senryû tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and senryû are often cynical or darkly humorous and satiric while haiku are serious.
 

Sestina
A highly structured form of poetry consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy (thirty-nine lines). The end words of the first stanza are repeated in varied order as end words in the other stanzas and also recur in the envoy.
 

Shape
Poetry written in the shape or form of an object. Shape poems do not have to take the form of the object it describes. This form is different than a concrete poem, in that a concrete poem takes the shape of the object it describes.
 

Sijo
Sijo is the classic form of unrhymed poetry in Korea. Sijo have three long lines. Each line varies between 14 and 16 syllables, with the middle line the longest. The first line states a theme, the second line counters it, and the third line resolves the poem.
 

Sonnet
Lyric poems that are 14 lines that usually have one or more conventional rhyme schemes.
 

Tail-rhyme
( rime couée ) This is a French form consisting of two rhymes. First there is a rhyming couplet of normally of eight syllables then a third and shorter line. There is another couplet that rhymes with the first one and the sixth, shorter line that rhymes with the third line. This gives us a suggested pattern : aabccb
 

Tanka
A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the others seven. In Japanese, tanka is often written in one straight line, but in English and other languages, we usually divide the lines into the five syllabic units: 5-7-5-7-7.
 

Terza Rima
Terza rima is a verse form composed of iambic tercets (three-line groupings). The rhyme scheme for this form of poetry is "aba bcb cdc, etc." The second line of each tercet sets the rhyme for the following tercet, and thus supplying the verse with a common thread, a way to link the stanzas. The only time the form changes is at the conclusion of the poem, where a single line that rhymes with the second line of the final tercet stands alone; the rhyme scene at the end of the poem looks like this: "xyx yzy z."
 

Terzanelle
A terzanelle (pronounced tur-zuh-nell) is a poetry form which is a combination of the villanelle and the terza rima. It is nineteen lines total, with five triplets and a concluding quatrain. It uses the interlocked rhyme pattern of a terza rima but in the villanelle’s form of five triplets and a quatrain.
 

Tetractys
Tetractys, a poetic form consisting of at least 5 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 syllables (total of 20). Tetractys can be written with more than one verse, but must follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Tetractys can also be reversed and written 10, 4, 3, 2, 1. Double Tetractys maybe written as: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, and a Triple Tetractys as: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10.
 

Than-Bauk
A Than-Bauk, conventionally a witty saying or epigram, is a three line "climbing rhyme" poem of Burmese origin. Each line has four syllables. The rhyme is on the fourth syllable of the first line, the third syllable of the second line, and the second syllable of the third line.
 

Triolet
A French verse form. Its rhyme scheme is ABaAabAB and all lines are in iambic tetrameter; the first, fourth and seventh lines are identical, as are the second and final lines, thereby making the initial and final couplets identical as well. The features of the Triolet are: 8 lines. Two rhymes. 5 of the 8 lines are repeated or refrain lines. First line repeats at the 4th and 7th lines. Second line repeats at the 8th line. Rhyme scheme (where an upper-case letter indicates the appearance of an identical line, while a lower-case letter indicates a rhyme with each line designated by the same lower-case or upper-case letter)
 

Tyburn
A tyburn is a six line poem consisting of 2,2,2,2,9,9 syllables. The first four lines rhyme and are all descriptive words. The last two lines rhyme and incorporate the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines as the 5th to 8th syllables.
 

Verse
Verse is a single metrical line of poetry, or poetry in general (as opposed to prose which uses grammatical units like sentences and paragraphs). "Verse" is also used as a general term for metrical composition. Not all verse is poetry and sacred books such as the Holy Bible are divided into small verses.
 

Villanelle
A 19-line poem consisting of five tercets and a final quatrain on two rhymes. The first and third lines of the first tercet repeat alternately as a refrain closing the succeeding stanzas and joined as the final couplet of the quatrain.