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Terza rima links
Terza rima, a form of poetry written in rhyme-linked three-line stanzas, was originated by Dante in the 13th century & brought into English by Thomas Wyatt & Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century.
Terza rima
Terza rima defined, in our glossary of poetic forms.
“Acquainted with the Night,” by Robert Frost
Called “Frost’s quintessential dramatic lyric of homelessness” by Frank Lentricchia, this poem uses the two-lines forward/one line back form of terza rima to realize the sad, aimless gait of the hobo who has “outwalked the furthest city light” into the lonely darkness.
“Ode to the West Wind,” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelley’s famous poem is a sequence of five “terza rima sonnets,” each 14-line poem made up of four tercets & a closing couplet: “The trumpet of a prophecy! 0 Wind, / If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”
“Sow,” by Sylvia Plath
Plath wrote her ode to “This vast / Brobdingnag bulk” in a loosely rhymed, lumbering terza rima which alternates line lengths with its rhymes. A recording of Sylvia herself reading “Sow,” taken from Random House’s “Voice of the Poet” series, is online at Salon Audio.
“Terza Murder,” by Mike Snider
In his Formal Blog & Sonnetarium, Mike Snider has posted both an invocation to his muse & the beginnings of a murder mystery/ghost story/urban fantasy/satire written in terza rima.
“Terza rima” defined
Among the t’s in Bob Shubinski’s Glossary of Poetic Terms is a succinct definition, linked to other relevant terms.
“Terza Rima,” by Adrienne Rich
The text is no longer available online since DoubleTake died, but you can hear a recording from Rich’s 2000 reading at SUNY Buffalo which includes “Terza Rima” at PennSound.
“Woman -- A Terza Rima,” by Janan Platt
Janan Platt’s lovely terza rima from Morpo Review is full of strong visual images & near-rhyme hesitations & turns. It’s also posted as a streaming audio file.