Terza rima

Terza rima is a verse form in three-line stanzas whose rhymes interlock, so the middle line of each stanza supplies the rhyme for the next.

The first four lines of Shelley's ode rhyme "being" and "fleeing", and the middle "dead" sets up the next stanza's "red".

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind", 1820

What it is

The scheme runs ABA BCB CDC DED and so on, with each tercet handing a rhyme to the next. The chain keeps the poem moving forward. A poem often ends on a single line or a couplet to close the chain.

Why it matters to a writer or editor

Terza rima is hard in English because the language has fewer rhymes than Italian. When it works, the interlocking creates a sense of momentum that few forms match.

Frequently asked questions

Who invented terza rima?

Dante, who used it in the Divine Comedy in the early 1300s. English poets including Shelley and Byron later borrowed it.