Notation used below: • ABAB – Four-line stanza, first and third lines rhyme at the end, second and fourth lines rhyme at the end. • AB AB – Two two-line stanzas, with the first lines rhyming at the end and the second lines rhyming at the end. • AB,AB – Single two-line stanza, with the two lines having both a single
internal rhyme and a conventional rhyme at the end. • aBaB – Two different possible meanings for a four-line stanza: • First and third lines rhyme at the end, second and fourth lines are repeated verbatim. • First and third lines have a
feminine rhyme and the second and fourth lines have a
masculine rhyme. • – Two stanzas, where the first lines of both stanzas are exactly the same, and the last lines of both stanzas are the same. The second lines of the two stanzas are different, but rhyme at the end with the first and last lines. (In other words, all the "A" and "a" lines rhyme with each other, but not with the "b" lines.) • XAXA – Four lines, two unrhymed (X) and two with the same end rhyme (A) Other notation examples: • Indicating the number of
stressed syllables in certain lines: AA4B2CC4 or AA4B2CC4 • Some publications use lowercase or have punctuation to separate lines or stanzas, e.g. or . (These variations are not used elsewhere in this article, for clarity.) Notable rhyme schemes and forms that use specific rhyme schemes: •
Ballad stanza: ABCB •
Ballade: Three stanzas of ABABBCBC followed by BCBC •
Balliol rhyme: AABB •
Boy Named Sue: AABCC(B, or infrequently D) •
Bref double: AXBC XAXC AXAB AB and other schemes, where "X" represents unrhymed lines •
Burns stanza: AAABAB(B) or AABCCCB • Canopus: ABABCBC} •
Chant royal: Five stanzas of followed by either or (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim) •
Chastushka: ABAB, ABCB, or AABB •
Cinquain: ABABB •
Clerihew: AABB •
Couplet: AA, but usually occurs as AA BB CC DD ... •
Décima: ABBAACCDDC •
Double dactyl: XXXA XXXA •
Enclosed rhyme (or enclosing rhyme): ABBA •
Englyn: complex structure • "Fire and Ice" stanza: ABAABCBCB as used in
Robert Frost's poem "
Fire and Ice" •
Keatsian Ode: ABABCDECDE used in Keats'
Ode on Indolence,
Ode on a Grecian Urn, and
Ode to a Nightingale. •
Klin: complex structure •
Limerick: AABBA •
Lutherstrophe: ABABCCB or ABABCCX •
Mâni: AABA •
Monorhyme: AAAAA... an identical rhyme on every line, common in Latin and Arabic •
Octave: ABBA ABBA •
Onegin stanzas: with the lowercase letters representing
feminine rhymes and the uppercase representing
masculine rhymes, written in
iambic tetrameter •
Ottava rima: ABABABCC • A
quatrain is any four-line stanza or poem. There are 15 possible rhyme sequences for a four-line poem; common rhyme schemes for these include AAAA, AABB, ABAB, ABBA, and ABCB. • "
The Raven" stanza: ABCBBB, or AA,B,CC,CB,B,B when accounting for internal rhyme, as used by
Edgar Allan Poe in his poem "The Raven" •
Rhyme royal: ABABBCC •
The Road Not Taken stanza: ABAAB as used in Robert Frost's poem
The Road Not Taken, and in Glæde over Danmark by
Poul Martin Møller. •
Rondeau: ABaAabAB (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim) •
Rondelet: AbAabbA (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim) •
Roundel: (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim) •
Rubaiyat: AABA or AAAA •
Sapphic stanza in Polish poetry – various •
Scottish stanza: AAABAB, as used by
Robert Burns in works such as "
To a Mouse" •
Sestain: AABBCC, ABABCC, AABCCB, AAABAB, and others •
Sestet: various schemes depending on the country •
Sestina: ABCDEF FAEBDC CFDABE ECBFAD DEACFB BDFECA, the seventh stanza is a tercet where line 1 has A in it but ends with D, line 2 has B in it but ends with E, line 3 has C in it but ends with F •
Sestuplo-nel-quintetto: Any quantity of stanzas of AABCCB, occasionally followed by either a repeating pattern of BCCB, or AA, plainly. •
Sicilian octave: ABABABAB •
Simple 4-line: ABCB •
Sonnet, 14 lines: • 4 + 4 + 3 + 3 lines: •
Petrarchan sonnet: ABBA ABBA CDE CDE or ABBA ABBA CDC DCD • 4 + 4 + 4 + 2 lines •
Shakespearean sonnet: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG •
Spenserian sonnet: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE •
Spenserian stanza: ABABBCBCC, where the last line is an
alexandrine line •
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening form: AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD, a modified Ruba'i stanza used by Robert Frost for the eponymous poem •
Tail rhyme: B lines appear intermittently •
Tanaga: traditional
Tagalog tanaga is AABB •
Terza rima: ABA BCB CDC ..., ending on YZY Z; YZY ZZ; or YZY ZYZ • A
tristich or
tercet is any three-line stanza or poem; common rhyme schemes for these are AAA (triplet) and ABA (enclosed tercet). The only other possibilities for three-line poems are AAB, ABB, and ABC. Multiple tercets can be combined into longer poems, as in the terza rima form. • Traditional rhyme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH... •
Triolet: ABaAabAB and others (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim) • Triplet: AAA, often repeating such as: AAA BBB CCC DDD... •
Trova: XAXA •
Villanelle: are lines repeated exactly which rhyme with the "a" lines ==In hip-hop music==