Rhyme royal

The rhyme royal ("royal rhyme" ) is a verse form of English poetry.

It consists of seven verses (usually iambic pentameter ) with the rhyme scheme ababbcc. Thus, the verse can be divided into either a terza rima and two couplets ( aba -bb - cc ) or in a quatrain and a three-line ( abab - bcc). This allows the rhyme royal a large margin, in particular in epic poems.

The form was invented by Geoffrey Chaucer, who ( ababbcbc ) developed by omission of the seventh row from the French octosyllabic verse ballads. Chaucer used it in some of his early poems ( " The Parliament of Fowls " ), in " Troilus and Criseyde " and four of his " Canterbury Tales".

The name of the stanza is probably due to the fact that King James I of Scotland used it in his chauceresken poem "The Kingis Quaire ".

Many English poets have tried in the form, among others, John Lydgate, Thomas Wyatt, William Shakespeare ( " The Rape of Lucretia " ), and in the 20th century, WH Auden.

Example

From Wyatt's "They flee from me that sometime did me seek":

  • Poetry
  • Literature ( English )
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