From en.wikipedia.org:
[Poetry composed of three lines] A TERCET is composed of three lines of
poetry, forming a stanza or a complete poem.[1]
** Examples of tercet forms
English-language haiku is an example of an unrhymed tercet poem. A poetic
triplet is a tercet in which all three lines follow the same rhyme,
<math>\mathrm{AAA}</math>; triplets are rather rare; they are more customarily
used sparingly in verse of heroic couplets or other couplet verse, to add
extraordinary emphasis.[2]
Other types of tercet include an enclosed tercet where the lines rhyme in an
<math>\mathrm{ABA}</math> pattern and terza rima where the
<math>\mathrm{ABA}</math> pattern of a verse is continued in the next verse by
making the outer lines of the next stanza rhyme with the central line of the
preceding stanza, <math>\mathrm{BCB}</math>, as in the _terza rima_ or
_terzina_ form of Dante Alighieri's _Divine Comedy_. There has been much
investigation of the possible sources of the Dantesque _terzina_, which
Benedetto Croce characterised as "linked, enclosed, disciplined, vehement and
yet calm".[3] William Baer observes of the tercets of terza rima, "These
interlocking rhymes tend to pull the listener's attention forward in a
continuous flow.... Given this natural tendency to glide forward, terza rima
is especially well-suited to narration and description".[4]
The tercet also forms part of the villanelle, where the initial five stanzas
are tercets, followed by a concluding quatrain.[5][6][7]
A tercet may also form the separate halves of the ending sestet in a
Petrarchan sonnet, where the rhyme scheme is
<math>\mathrm{ABBAABBACDCCDC}</math>, as in Longfellow's "Cross of Snow". For
example, while "Cross of Snow" is indeed a Petrarchan sonnet, it does not
follow the form of<math>\mathrm{ABBA. ABBA \,\, CDC,CDC}</math>.[8][9]
Instead, its form is <math>\mathrm{ABBA \,\, CDDC \,\, EFG \,\, EFG}</math>.
A tercet also ends sestinas where the keywords of the lines before are
repeated in a highly ordered form.
** History
Tercets (or _tristichs_) using parallelism appear in Biblical Hebrew
poetry.[10][11]
The tercet was introduced into English poetry by Sir Thomas Wyatt in the 16th
century. It was employed by Shelley and is the form used in Byron's _The
Prophecy of Dante_.[12]
** See also
- Triadic-line poetry
- Trimeter
- Haiku
- Haiku in English
** References
[reflist]
** External links
[wiktionary]
- Threnos tercet stanzas 'The Phoenix and the Turtle' William Shakespeare (see http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174352)
- Robert Herrick's rhymed example 'Upon Julia's Clothes' (see http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176777)
[Poetic forms]
Category:Stanzaic form Category:Poetic forms