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Literature vocabulary · Poetry

Ottava rima

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In literature, ottava rima means: An eight-line stanza rhyming ABABABCC, commonly in iambic pentameter in English.

In Turkish: ottava rima, sekiz dizelik uyaklı bent

How it is used

Use when discussing stanza form and the turn a closing couplet can produce.

Example sentences

  1. The ottava rima ends with a comic couplet that punctures the traveller's pride.

    The final pair of rhyming lines changes the stanza's tone.

  2. We checked all eight lines before labeling the stanza ottava rima.

    The label requires the full stanza pattern, not just a closing rhyme.

Common collocations

  • an ottava rima stanza
  • write in ottava rima
  • coupletA pair of consecutive lines of poetry, usually of the same length and rhyming with each other, that form a unit of meaning.
  • rhyme schemeThe pattern of rhymes at the ends of lines in a poem or stanza, shown with letters, for example ABAB, where lines with the same letter rhyme.

More terms: Poetry

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