Terza Rima

Dante's interlocking triple rhyme — aba bcb cdc — chaining stanzas forward like the journey it carries.

Specifications & Metrics

type

Fixed stanzaic form

origin

Medieval Italy

originator

Dante Alighieri

meter

Hendecasyllabic or iambic pentameter lines

Core Principles & Analysis

• Dante built the Divine Comedy's hundred cantos on its chained tercets.
• The interlocking rhyme pulls the reader forward stanza by stanza.
• English poets from Chaucer onward bent it to iambic pentameter.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Terza rima