Rhyme royal

Rhyme royal is a stanza of seven lines of iambic pentameter rhyming ABABBCC, used by Chaucer and Shakespeare.

Shakespeare opens The Rape of Lucrece in rhyme royal. The rhymes run post, desire, host, fire, aspire, waist, chaste.

From the besieged Ardea all in post,
Borne by the trustless wings of false desire,
Lust-breathed Tarquin leaves the Roman host,
And to Collatium bears the lightless fire
Which, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire
And girdle with embracing flames the waist
Of Collatine's fair love, Lucrece the chaste.

William Shakespeare, 1594

What it is

The stanza has seven lines. The pattern ABABBCC means the middle lines share a rhyme and the stanza closes with a couplet. It is good for serious, measured storytelling.

Why it matters to a writer or editor

Seven lines leave room for an idea to develop and for the couplet to settle it. The shape is rarer now, and a poem that uses it announces that it means to be heard slowly.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called rhyme royal?

Chaucer used it, and a later king of Scotland, James I, wrote in it, so it became linked with royal verse. The exact origin of the name is unclear.