Italian Octave Notes

Consisting of two Italian quatrains the Italian octave was used by Petrarch in his poetry. Originally there was no set form or line length and Petrarch used it as a basis for his poems including his sonnets. Spenser later formalised it to iambic pentameter with a rhyme schematic of abbaabba However, English is not a …

Huitain Notes

A very old French verse form the Huitain consists of one eight-line stanza composed of ten-syllable lines. The verse is written over three rhymes and the two popular rhyme schemes are as follows:ababbcbcandabbaacac Example Be thou like a rose by Ryter Roethicle Be thou like a Rose my belovedLet not thy thorns keep me away.When …

Canzonetta Notes

Meter: Meter of first line sets the tempoStructure: Minimum two octavesRhyme Scheme: ababcdcdD or abababaB The canzonetta is a variation of the canzone. It consists of at least two octaves, each using a series of alternating couplets. The last line or phrase is repeated in each subsequent stanza. Example: Hot Summer Nights by Terry Clitheroe …

Octave

Octaves are widely known in their strict forms of variant metered rhyme schemas. However, they can also be eight-line stanzas that use one or more alternative poetic devices such as: syllable count, internal rhyme, a couplet in each stanza, meter and so on. For my example I have worked in Iambic Diameter, any rhymes are …