Terza Rima

A poem in triplets, in which the second or middle line rhymes with the first and third lines of the succeeding triplets. In the beginning of the poem lines 1 and 3 rhyme independently, and the poem must end with the first line of a new triplet. Dante’s Divine Comedy is in this metre, and Byron has adopted it in The Prophecy of Dante. The scheme is as follows:—

1

—1a

x2a

feel

(a new rhyme for 1b and 3b).

—3a

1b

heal

x2b

cries

(a new rhyme for 1c and 4c).

3b

steal

1c

skies

x2c

place

(a new rhyme for 1d and 3d)

3c

arise

1d

race

x2d

(a new rhyme for 1e and 3e)

3d

space

etc

etc.