Directory of Terza Rima Resources

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A verse form of Italian origin, perhaps invented by Dante, consisting of three-line stanzas (tercets) in which the middle line of one tercet rhymes with the first and third lines of the following tercet. The rhyme scheme looks like this: aba bcb cdc, etc. A poem in terza rima can be of any length and in any meter. The final stanza of the poem can be a single line, a couplet, or a tercet, but it must rhyme with the middle line of the previous stanza. A "Terza Rima Sonnet" is a poem consisting of four tercets and a couplet in terza rima form.

Resources in This Category

• "Ode to the West Wind" by P. B. Shelley.

  http://www.bartleby.com/106/275.html
  Perhaps the most famous example of terza rima in English. From Francis T. Palgrave's 19th century anthology, "The Golden Treasury." Notice that the tercets and final couplets have not been separated by spaces.

• First Snow in Alsace

  http://www.naic.edu/~gibson/poems/wilbur1.html
  By Richard Wilbur.

• Personality Quiz - What Poetry Form Am I?

  http://quiz.ravenblack.net/poeticform.pl?q=1&a=16
  A terza rima that describes the "personality" of a terza rima. With html code for transferring the terza rima to your site and links to "personality quizzes" for other poetic forms.

• Poetic Form: Terza Rima

  https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/terza-rima-poetic-term
  An explanation of the form, with references to numerous examples and a brief discussion of Ciardi's and Pinsky's translations of Dante, from the Academy of American Poets.

• Poetry Knowledge Zone: Terza Rima

  http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=KnowledgeZone&KnowledgeZoneID=12
  Explanation, history, and step-by-step instructions for writing by Smitha Chakravarthula. Includes examples.

• Terza Rima

  http://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/formsofverse/reports2000/page4.html
  A description by a student in Rios' course with examples, including Frost's "Acquainted with the Night."

• Terza Rima

  http://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/formsofverse/anecdotes/page4.html
  Description and examples from a course taught by Alberto Rios.

• Terza Rima

  http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Handbook/terzarima.html
  A brief description of the form from an English handbook at Emory University with examples.

• Terza Rima

  http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/terza.html
  A brief description of the form with an interesting review of Pinsky's attempt to translate Dante's terza rima.

• The House on the Hill

  http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/house-hill
  A famous example of the form by Edward Arlington Robinson.

• Woman -- A Terza Rima

  http://morpo.com/index.php?c=display&vol=2&iss=5&disp=197
  By Janan Platt.

 

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