Fussy Little Forms: Terza Rima

Hello Toads! For our little form challenge today, let’s try invoking the rule of three in a form that allows for poems that are short or longer--the TERZA RIMA. We’ve played with three in the Garden plenty of times--think triolet or sevenling--but I don’t think we’ve tackled this form directly. It also follows nicely from the chained rhyme we worked on last time, so let’s dig in.

The terza rima has a long pedigree, having been created by Dante for The Divine Comedy, but it is really quite simple in concept. Perhaps that is why it is so long-lasting. It is a series of interlocking three-line stanzas in which the end rhyme in the second line provides the rhyme for the first and third lines of the next, like this:   A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C and so on, to your heart’s content.

 
Another famous example of terza rima with which you may be familiar:

“Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Usually the terza rima is written in iambic pentameter, but this is not required. It is suggested that the lines be the same length or syllable count, but again, not imperative. There is no limit to the number of stanzas one might include in a terza rima. One can write a terza rima sonnet as Robert Frost did above, like this: A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D, E-E

Academy of American Poets has a longer article at poets.org about terza rima that may be interesting or helpful:  ARTICLE

As a sweet-special and totally inspiring added bonus, I found audio of dearest Adrienne Rich reading her poem titled “Terza Rima,” which flies far afield from the form and, of course, amazes:  AUDIO

And here is a review of Arts of the Possible, Adrienne Rich's collection in which this poem appears:  REVIEW