Okuzeka
Literature vocabulary · Poetry

Terza rima

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In literature, terza rima means: Three-line stanzas linked by an interlocking rhyme pattern, ABA BCB CDC.

In Turkish: terza rima, üçlü zincirleme uyak

How it is used

Use in stanza analysis; the middle rhyme of one stanza connects to the next stanza's outer rhymes.

Example sentences

  1. The terza rima carries the sea rhyme into the next stanza and keeps the journey moving.

    The interlocking rhyme gives the reader a reason to move onward.

  2. The translator abandoned terza rima because the linked rhymes forced awkward word choices.

    Maintaining the chain competed with natural phrasing in translation.

Common collocations

  • write in terza rima
  • terza rima stanzas
  • stanzaA group of lines in a poem, separated from other groups by a space, that works like a paragraph in prose.
  • 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

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: