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Terza Rima

TAIRT-sah REE-mah

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Terza rima is a rhymed verse form built from three-line stanzas (tercets) in an interlocking chain rhyme, aba bcb cdc ded, and so on, closing with a single extra line or couplet. Dante Alighieri is credited with originating the form for the Divine Comedy in the early fourteenth century, and the interlocking rhyme is often read as itself carrying a symbolic charge, echoing the poem's trinitarian theology.

Facts
Place of Origin
Italy 1
Dante Alighieri is credited with originating the form for the Divine Comedy in the early fourteenth century.
Structure
Three-line stanzas (tercets) in interlocking chain rhyme, aba bcb cdc ded, closing with a single extra line or couplet. 1
Notable Example
Dante Alighieri, the Divine Comedy (early fourteenth century) 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Form Of Genre

Sources
1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Princeton University Press
1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Princeton University Presss.v. Terza rima
1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Princeton University PressAssociated With: The Divine Comedy, Dante composed the Divine Comedy in terza rima, an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme (aba bcb cdc...) credited to him as its originator.
1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Princeton University PressForm Of Genre: Epic, Long associated with sustained narrative and epic verse, most famously Dante's Divine Comedy.

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