Chapter 3. Rhyme Schemes

Strictly speaking, this section ought to have been placed in the chapter on rhyme or immediately after it, but I thought it would be better first to deal with poetic meters—which we have now done. We may therefore proceed to the construction of a poem, by which I mean the arrangement of rhymes within the lines of a poem, or rhyme scheme. I have divided this section according to stanza types, beginning with the monostich.

Naturally, the first stanza type is the monostich, that is, a short unrhymed poem consisting of a single line. Such poems are usually humorous or ironic; when writing them, the main emphasis falls not on technique but on content. For example:

To write monostichs, one must possess at least a sense of humor. As, indeed, must those who read them.

The simplest arrangement of rhymes is the paired (adjacent) rhyme in a couplet (according to the scheme aa).

The couplet is the simplest form of combining poetic lines and is rather primitive, which is why I recommend alternating it with other forms within a single poem. A distich is a couplet that constitutes a complete poem in itself, which is comparatively rare.

Next we shall consider a more complex form—the triplet. An ordinary triplet (tercet) consists of three lines sharing the same rhyme: aaa bbb ccc. This scheme is not used very often, but it can still be encountered.

Another form of the triplet is the terza rima. Terza rima is a poetic form composed of tercets with the obligatory rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc… Dante’s “Divine Comedy” was written in terza rima:

In general, a complete work (a poem or a long poetic composition) written in terza rima is called a capitolo. In the “Divine Comedy,” each individual canto of the poem constitutes a capitolo.

A variation of the triplet is the ritornello—a three-line stanza form found first in Italian and later in French poetry. The meter is free, chosen at the poet’s discretion; the first and third lines rhyme with one another, while the middle line remains unrhymed (blank). In Russian poetry, the ritornello did not take root as a poetic form, although isolated experiments may be found among the Symbolist poets.

Triplets may also be combined into other, more complex forms. One example is the villanelle—in early Italian and later early French poetry, a lyric poem of a distinctive form intended for singing. It consists of six three-line stanzas and one concluding line, for a total of nineteen lines employing two rhymes. The composition of the villanelle is complex: the first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated thereafter in a prescribed order and share one rhyme; each middle line of the tercet is original, while all middle lines are likewise linked by a common rhyme. Here is a villanelle written by the Renaissance poet Jean Passerat:

In Russian versification, however, I would still recommend using tercets or terza rima, since the other forms are better suited to Italian or French poetry, from which they in fact originated.

By far the most widespread stanza form, however, is the quatrain. There are two standard rhyme schemes for the quatrain: abab (cross rhyme) and abba (envelope rhyme). An example of the former:

An example of the latter:

Simpler varieties of the quatrain (and therefore more primitive ones) are the rhyme schemes aabb and abcb. In the first case, the quatrain merely consists of two couplets united by a common theme; in the second, the first and third lines do not rhyme (the so-called blank rhyme). I strongly advise avoiding the latter.

A quatrain may itself constitute a complete poem (for example, chastushkas). Ordinarily, a quatrain functioning as an independent work carries either a witty or a didactic meaning:

Poems written in quatrains are extremely widespread. Nearly every poet has turned to this stanza form. Quite often, quatrains are interwoven with other forms. For example, in “Eugene Onegin,” the stanzas are constructed through an alternation of quatrains with cross rhyme, quatrains with envelope rhyme, and couplets. It has been calculated that quatrains constitute 35% of all stanzas in Pushkin’s works, not counting those that form part of the Onegin stanza or the sonnet.

Quatrains may also combine with one another into more complex forms, such as eight-line or even twelve-line stanzas. One form of combining quatrains is the stances—a poem in which the end of each stanza must also be the end of a sentence. The classical example is Joseph Brodsky’s poem “Stances,” which I shall not quote here.

Another variety of the quatrain is the Leonine verse, a stanza with adjacent rhymes in the first hemistich of each line and a common end rhyme for the couplet. For example:

A fixed quatrain form of the Eastern type is the rubai. The rhyme scheme of the rubai is aaba, and its content is usually philosophical in nature. The most famous poet to employ the rubai was, of course, Omar Khayyam.

In Georgian poetry, the quatrain assumed the form known as the majama, a quatrain employing homonymic rhymes, in which the same sound is used with different meanings. Majamas frequently occur in Shota Rustaveli’s poem “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin,” for example:

Incidentally, a far more extensive and detailed discussion of quatrains—and of what qualities a quatrain must possess in order to be considered truly good—can and indeed should be found in my article “On Quatrains”.

We now move on to more complex forms, less widespread than the quatrain, but no less interesting for that. Seek variety in form! It will never hurt.

Five-line stanzas already allow greater freedom for the imagination. Naturally, five-line stanzas also possess fixed forms. One example is the limerick. A limerick is an ironic five-line poem with the rhyme scheme aabba (preferably written in three-foot anapest in lines 1, 2, and 5, and two-foot anapest in lines 3 and 4). Limericks originated in England and were notably developed by the famous English poet and artist Edward Lear.

In general, however, try to discover five-line stanza forms on your own. There are many possible rhyme schemes here: aabba, ababa, abbba, abbaa, and so on. Do not be afraid to experiment.

This is merely one example among many.

Six-line stanzas occur less frequently than quatrains, but far more often than five-line stanzas or tercets. There are no fixed forms for the six-line stanza, but the possibilities for invention are virtually limitless. For example, aabbba:

Or abcabc (triangular rhyme):

Or aabccb (the most “song-like” variant):

This stanza form, incidentally, is sometimes called the Ronsard stanza.

In general, as a splendid example of masterfully executed six-line stanzas, I recommend reading Nikolai Gumilev’s poem “Five-Foot Iambs.” Every single one (I emphasize—every single one!!!) of the poem’s fourteen stanzas is a two-rhyme six-line stanza employing a new rhyme scheme! Among them appear such schemes as ababab, ababaa, abbaba, aabbab, aaabbb, aababb, abbbaa, and so forth. And what if Gumilev had used not only two-rhyme but also three-rhyme six-line stanzas? The number of possibilities would have become even greater! Here is an example of a stanza from “Five-Foot Iambs”:

In general, the possibilities for invention are enormous. Incidentally, a six-line stanza with the rhyme scheme ababab is called a sestain:

It should be noted that the term “sestain” has several meanings, and poems of this type exist in several forms. The first type of sestain follows the rhyme scheme AbAbAC or BaBaCC (capital letters indicate masculine rhymes, lowercase letters feminine ones). One may also write entirely in feminine rhymes, as is characteristic of Italian poetry, but the indispensable condition is the use of three rhymes. The first type of sestain closely resembles the ottava rima. If one removes the first two lines from an ottava rima, the result is a sestain of the first type. The second type of sestain follows the scheme AbbAcc or aBBaCC. When linked together, sestains of the second type produce greater uniformity throughout the poem in terms of stanzaic structure. The third type of sestain is an exclusively fixed form. Its structure is as follows: six six-line stanzas (36 lines in total) employing only two rhymes, while the rhyme words used in the first stanza must recur as rhymes throughout all subsequent stanzas. Another condition is that the arrangement of these six rhyme words differs in each stanza. Usually, at the junction of stanzas, the final line of one stanza and the first line of the next employ the same rhyme word. When a poetic work is written in six-line stanzas of the first two types, it is called “sestains” (plural); a poem of the third type is called a “sestain.”

Another original variety of the six-line stanza is the virelai—a six-line stanza form of Old French poetry. The stanza is divided into tercets, in each of which the first two lines rhyme with one another, while the shortened third line of the first half-stanza rhymes with the shortened third line of the second half-stanza. The following Russian verses resemble the virelai:

When the virelai is not limited to six lines but expanded to nine, twelve, fifteen, and so forth, it is called a lai. Thus, the virelai is merely a particular form of the lai. The rules governing rhyme and the shortened line remain the same in the lai.

The seven-line stanza (septet) is comparatively rare. Yet in essence, one need only add a single line to any six-line stanza to obtain a septet—whether with two rhymes, three rhymes, or even four. The possibilities for inventing rhyme schemes are enormous: abbabba, abccbac, aabccba, and so forth. The combinations are countless. The rarity of the septet is due primarily to historical convention: poets simply were not accustomed to writing in this form, and that is all. Yet it is quite simple and at times very beautiful—provided, of course, that it is not written carelessly. Lermontov’s “Borodino” is written in septets (aabcccb):

Let me provide one more septet as an example, a highly unconventional one. This is Joseph Brodsky’s famous “Song”:

The rhyme scheme here is absolutely insane. Each line possesses its own internal rhyme, with the middle of the line rhyming with its ending. The resulting scheme is: aa bb cc d ee ff d. This is, of course, a highly uncharacteristic example, but it is so unusual that it would be a sin to omit it.

Incidentally, a seven-line stanza with the rhyme scheme abbaacc is called the rhyme royal or the Chaucerian stanza. Chaucer was the first in English literature to introduce the concepts of meter, accentual-syllabic verse, and systematic rhyme. Here is an example of a Chaucerian stanza from Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”:

The eight-line stanza is the third most popular rhyme scheme after the quatrain and the six-line stanza. Once again, the number of possible rhyme combinations in an eight-line stanza is enormous. One could devise an entire mathematical program for all possible combinations in two-, three-, and four-rhyme eight-line stanzas. Therefore, I shall provide only a single example and leave the rest to you: write! The scheme is aaabcccb:

A fixed form of the eight-line stanza is the ottava rima. The rhyme scheme of ottava rima is abababcc. The closing couplet interrupts the sequence of triple rhymes and serves well for a concluding aphorism or an ironic turn. Pushkin’s “The Little House in Kolomna,” Tolstoy’s “Portrait,” and Maykov’s “Ottava” are all written in ottava rima.

A rare and little-used form of the eight-line stanza is the triolet. Its rhyme scheme is abaaabab, with the fourth line repeating the first, and the seventh and eighth lines repeating the first and second. Examples of the triolet are extremely scarce; in Russian poetry, this form was employed chiefly by Nikolay Karamzin.

An example of an unrhymed triolet, in which rhyme is replaced by the repetition of the same word. This triolet also provides an example of a paeonic (hyperdactylic) ending.

And here is an example of a triple (secret) triolet:

This device, first applied to the triolet form, is known from Old French sonnet tradition, though theoretically it may be used in any stanzaic form. Look closely: such a construction allows one triolet to be read as three independent ones if the poem is mentally divided by a vertical line running through the caesuras. It is also an excellent example of internal rhyme. Incidentally, it is likewise possible to construct a crown of triolets according to the scheme of a crown of sonnets.

An eight-line stanza with the rhyme scheme abababab is called a siciliana:

The nine-line stanza occurs no more frequently than the septet. Yet again, simply add one line to an eight-line stanza, and you obtain precisely what was required (ababcdccd):

A nine-line stanza with the rhyme scheme ababbcdcc (and so forth, with every ninth line lengthened by one foot) is called the Spenserian stanza:

The ten-line stanza occurs more frequently than the nine-line stanza because of its symmetry. In general, with an even number of lines it is easier to construct an elegant rhyme combination. An example of a ten-line stanza is the following (ababccdeed):

Ten-line stanzas also possess fixed forms. One such form is the ode. The classical ode follows the rhyme scheme ababccdeed and is characterized by exalted, solemn content, elevated expressions, and an abundance of exclamations. The acknowledged master of the ode was Gavrila Derzhavin. For example:

Another fixed form of the ten-line stanza is the décima. The décima is a ten-line stanza in Spanish poetry, most often written in trochaic meter. Masculine and feminine rhymes in the décima follow the pattern AbbAAccDDc. Iambic décimas are known in the poetry of Derzhavin, with the rhyme schemes aBaBccDeeD (“Felitsa” and “God”) and aaBcBcDeeD (“On Happiness”).

We shall not examine 11-line, 12-line, and 13-line stanzas in detail. Let me merely remind you that in any of these forms one may obtain an enormous variety of rhyme combinations, so this is a wide field for your own experimentation. I shall single out only one fixed twelve-line form: the copla. The copla is a stanza form of Old Spanish poetry, a twelve-line stanza divided by its rhyme scheme into two six-line units in which the third and sixth lines are shortened. The rhyme scheme is abc abc def def. Here is an example of a copla from Jorge Manrique’s “Stanzas on the Death of His Father, Captain Rodrigo”:

The thirteen-line stanza also possesses at least one fixed form—the rondel. This is a French poetic form consisting of three stanzas comprising thirteen lines in total. The first two stanzas contain four lines each, while the third contains five. Two rhymes run throughout the entire rondel (abbaabababbaa). The first two lines are repeated at the end of the second stanza, and the final line repeats the first line either exactly or in a slightly altered form.

Let us, however, examine the fourteen-line stanza, because it possesses one fixed form that is among the most popular in literary history—the sonnet. A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines constructed according to the scheme abbaabbacdcdee, that is, two quatrains and two tercets. The sonnet appeared in European literature as early as the thirteenth century. One of the great peaks of Renaissance poetry was Petrarch’s sonnets addressed to Laura. The sonnet often permits deviations from its strict rhyme scheme. For example, Shakespeare’s 66th sonnet in the translation by Samuil Marshak:

The conclusion of a sonnet may encompass all six final lines (in this case—two). In this particular sonnet, the rule requiring shared rhymes in the two quatrains is not observed.

There exist numerous variations of the sonnet: the tailed sonnet—two quatrains and three tercets; the continuous sonnet—built on only two rhymes; the inverted sonnet—two tercets and two quatrains; the headless sonnet—one quatrain and two tercets; the half-sonnet—a quatrain and a tercet; the double sonnet—four quatrains and four tercets; the lame sonnet—unequal foot length in the fourth line of the quatrains; and so forth. There are also playful forms of the sonnet: the sonnet with repetitions, in which each new line begins with the word ending the previous line; the serpentine sonnet, ending with its opening line, where the first half of the first line serves as the second half of the last, and the second half of the first line becomes the first half of the last; the reverse sonnet, in which the final line arranges its words in the reverse order of the first line; and sonnets with tiny lines (a term coined by Nikolai Shulgovsky), in which the lines may consist even of a one-foot iamb.

The sonnet further develops into an even more complex form—the crown of sonnets. A crown consists of fifteen sonnets. The first line of each sonnet repeats the final line of the preceding one; the concluding sonnet (the master sonnet) repeats one line from each of the preceding sonnets, thus binding them into a unified whole. In this way, a crown of sonnets contains two hundred and ten lines, fourteen of which are used three times. A crown of sonnets is extremely difficult to compose, especially a proper one that violates none of the formal rules governing the individual sonnet. Crowns of sonnets may be found in the works of Valery Bryusov and Ilya Selvinsky. A rather fine crown of sonnets was created by the contemporary poet and rock musician Sergey Kalugin. In 1889, France Prešeren wrote a crown of inverted sonnets of the second type, which may fairly be called a poetic feat. Crowns of double sonnets are also known, though chiefly in Italian literature.

It should also be noted that a fourteen-line stanza is by no means necessarily a sonnet. For example, one may encounter such a form as: ababccdefefggd.

A distinctive form of the fourteen-line stanza is the Onegin stanza (ababccddeffegg):

Naturally, one may also explore more complex 15-line and 16-line stanzas; in general, everything is left to your own discretion. I shall mention only one specific form of the fifteen-line stanza—the rondeau. This is a fifteen-line poem with the rhyme scheme aabbaabbсaabbaс (where c is an unrhymed refrain repeating the opening words of the first line). The form was especially popular in the poetry of the Baroque and Rococo periods.

The rondeau also exists in other forms: an eight-line variety (where the first and second lines are repeated at the end, while the first line itself recurs as the fourth line), or a thirteen-line variety (where the opening words of the first line reappear in the ninth and thirteenth lines). More rarely encountered is the complex form known as the perfect rondeau, consisting of twenty-five lines and employing two rhymes.

You may also freely combine different stanza forms—quatrains with six-line stanzas, and so forth. Such poems are called strophoids. A poem lacking any clear division into stanzas is called astrophic verse, a form widely used in children’s poetry:

Closely related to astrophic verse is the raeshnik verse—a Russian folk verse form with a free number of syllables and freely placed stresses, whose rhythm is based on adjacent rhyme. Meter, incidentally, is likewise not observed. For example:

Finally, let me mention one more small trick. After any technically complete n-line stanza—especially a fixed form such as the sonnet or the ode—you may simply add one more line (or at most two) in order to complete the poem from the standpoint of meaning as well. Such an addition is called a coda and does not necessarily have to rhyme.

Besides the rubai described earlier, there exist several other distinctive Eastern stanza forms.

The ghazal is a type of monorhymed lyric poem in Eastern poetry. It usually consists of 5–12 bayts (couplets). The rhyme scheme is aa ba ca da…. Other traditional forms of Persian verse developed out of the ghazal.

The opening bayt often contains the poetical name (takhallus) of the author. The number of lines in a ghazal is always even. This form, like other forms of Eastern lyric poetry, did not take root in Russian literature and remains chiefly an exercise in poetic stylization.

p> In another interpretation, the ghazal is regarded as a triplet in which two equal segments share one rhyme, followed by a segment twice as long bearing the same rhyme (Valery Bryusov’s interpretation). In this form, the ghazal closely resembles the rubai.

A variation of the ghazal is the tarji‘band, widely распространённый in Eastern poetry. Its rhyme scheme is аа, ва, са…хх. The tarji‘band concludes with a linking bayt employing a paired rhyme.

The qasida is also a variation of the ghazal: a long monorhymed poem in which the first two lines rhyme, and thereafter every second line rhymes. In terms of rhyme structure, the qasida resembles the ghazal, though the ghazal itself is a shorter poem. In Bryusov’s interpretation, the qasida maintains a single rhyme throughout, although personally I disagree with this view.

The musaddas is a poetic form in the classical poetry of the Near and Middle East, consisting of 4–10 six-line stanzas and usually employed in philosophical poetry. Each stanza is divided into two unequal parts of four and two lines respectively; each line is divided by a caesura into hemistichs, the first hemistichs sharing an internal stanza rhyme, while the second conclude with a radif. In the first stanza, the same radif appears in all six lines; in the following stanzas it occurs only in the concluding couplet, which usually repeats the final couplet of the opening stanza (either verbatim or with some variations). The quatrains of the second and subsequent stanzas possess their own internal rhyme and their own radif.

Closely related to the musaddas is the form known as the musamman. Essentially, it is the same as the musaddas, except that it consists not of six-line but of eight-line stanzas.

The mukhammas is a stanzaic form in the poetry of the Near and Middle East. Each stanza contains five lines. The lines of the first stanza share either a common rhyme or a common radif. The second and subsequent stanzas possess their own rhyme or radif for all lines except the final one, which must conclude with the rhyme or radif of the first stanza (and sometimes repeats the final line of the first stanza in full).

In general—experiment to your heart’s content!

There are several unwritten rules governing poetic structure. One may ignore them, of course, but it is often worthwhile to use them to one’s advantage. In particular, combine poetic forms! Once again I recall “Eugene Onegin,” where quatrains with different rhyme schemes intertwine with couplets, and so forth. Unique combinations of forms may also be found in the works of Mikhail Shcherbakov. For example:

In this remarkable stanza we encounter astonishing interweavings of both form and meter. The stanzaic scheme is as follows: ababcdcdcdeeff. Yet the first four lines are six-foot anapest, the following three are four-foot anapest, then once again six-foot anapest for three lines, followed by four-foot, eight-foot, four-foot, and finally ten-foot anapest. Moreover, the arrangement of caesuras is highly unusual as well.

Another point worth mentioning when discussing poetic structure is the refrain. In song, the refrain is usually called the chorus and is intended to be memorable, especially in works performed by our dear and beloved pop music. But we are poets! Therefore, the refrain should be used with judgment, intelligence, and purpose. As a rule, the refrain differs from the main body of the poem in some respect: meter, rhythm, rhyme, or something else entirely. Yet it may also remain unchanged. A refrain may stay exactly the same throughout or may vary—partially or completely—from stanza to stanza. If the refrain changes semantically, it should be distinguished from the rest of the poem through a change in rhythm. Most often, the line length changes.

In general, the refrain remains primarily a song element and is encountered comparatively rarely in poetry. But remember: if you are writing a song, the refrain must satisfy certain requirements. It should be distinctive and self-contained—that is, it should express a complete thought summing up the verse. It should not be repeated too often (for example, a four-line refrain after every couplet is sheer nonsense). And, of course, its repetition must be justified. In most modern songs, after all, the chorus is merely a collection of words intended to increase the song’s popularity.

Let me also mention here another style of versification frequently employed by Vladimir Mayakovsky: the so-called echo rhymes. In such poems with paired rhyme schemes aabbcc, the second line consists of only a single word or a short phrase rhyming with the first line.

In essence, this too is a kind of trick versification.

Finally, let me speak about one of the trick forms of versification: monorhyme. Every line in a monorhyme ends with the same rhyme:

As a rule, monorhyme rarely possesses serious artistic value; most often it is precisely a poetic trick.