Poetry written in triplets rhymed aba, bcb, cdc, etc. is _____?

1 Answer
CountryGirl
Apr 23, 2018

Terza rima

Explanation:

The rhyme scheme #"ABA, BCB, CDC"# is called #"terza rima"#.

An example of this in poetry is "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The first 4 stanzas are in terza rima, and the last stanza is in couplet form:

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being, #(a)#
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead #(b)#
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, #(a)#

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, #(b)#
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, #(c)#
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed #(b)#

The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low, #(c)#
Each like a corpse within its grave, until #(d)#
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow #(c)#

Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill #(d)#
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) #(e)#
With living hues and odours plain and hill: #(d)#

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; #(e)#
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear! #(e)#

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