Terza rima
Rules quoted from the poets.org glossary; examples only from public-domain poems.
The rules, quoted
The end-word of the second line in one tercet supplies the rhyme for the first and third lines in the following tercet.
Thus, the rhyme scheme ( aba , bcb , cdc , ded ) continues through to the final stanza or line.
Terza rima is typically written in an iambic line and, in English, most often in iambic pentameter .
There are no limits to the number of lines a poem composed in terza rima may have.
Our explanation written by Tale of the Muse
Terza rima links its tercets by rhyme: the middle line of each tercet sets the rhyme for the outer lines of the next, so the scheme runs aba, bcb, cdc, ded. In English it is usually iambic, often iambic pentameter, and the glossary sets no limit on length.
Our plain-language restatement of the glossary rules above. It adds no facts of its own.
A public-domain example
Public domain in the US: the ebook's front matter prints 1902, before 1931, as the front matter quoted below shows. Only the opening lines are shown. The example illustrates the form; the rules above come from the glossary, not from the poem.
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,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes! O thou
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
Project Gutenberg ebook #32373 · our check found this text on October 31, 2026
Original publication, from the ebook
FRANCIS T. PALGRAVE LATE PROFESSOR OF POETRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD REVISED AND ENLARGED London MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1902