Ottava rima is an Italian poetic verse with eight lines and a specific rhyming scheme. It has no set length or subject, but often uses iambic pentameter. The structure includes a rhyming couplet at the end. It was first used by Giovani Boccaccio in the mid-1300s and later by poets such as Lord Byron and William Wordsworth.
An ottava rima is a type of poetic verse from Italy. Represents a rhyming passage of eight lines. It is one of the vital precursors of the sonnet including the canzone and the strambotto. Its earliest known use dates back to the mid-1300s. It is first found in the poetry of Giovani Boccaccio of Certaldo, Tuscany.
The ottava rima has a definite structure, but no definite length or subject. The most defining feature is its rhyming scheme. All ottava rima are eight lines long, with the first, third, and fifth lines rhyming with each other. The second, fourth and sixth lines also rhyme with each other, but are a different rhyme than the odd numbers. The last two lines, the seventh and eighth, form a rhyming couplet which gives the overall poem an abababcc pattern.
A large number of octave rhyme poems employ iambic pentameter, although other types of meter may be used. Iambic pentameter consists of 10 syllables divided into five feet. A foot is a basic unit of poetic metre. The first syllable of each foot is unstressed and the second is stressed. This produces a da-DUM, da-DUM effect.
Poems using this rhyming scheme can include an infinite number of lines. Long poems tend to be broken down into cantos, which are the poetic equivalent of a chapter. The chants can be found in poems such as Dante Aligheri’s “Divine Comedy”. These types of poems were often used for medieval romance poems and mock epics.
The earliest known examples of ottava rima were written by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1340. His first two examples of poetic form were “Il Filostato” and “Teseida”. Filostato is a poem of eight songs about the love between Troilus, son of the king of Troy Priam, and Cressida. Teseida concerns the love triangle between Palemone, Arcita and Emilia. Both poems inspired Geoffrey Chaucer’s later work The Canterbury Tales.
Ottava rima first appeared in English in the 16th century during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and William Wordsworth were noted users of the poetic form. Lord Byron’s “Don Juan” uses octave rhyme as its main structure. William Butler Yeats also employed it in several of his poems including “Among School Children” and a line from his poem “Sailing to Byzantium” sums up the style adeptly:
“It’s no country for old men. The young man
In each other’s arms, birds in the trees
— Those dying generations — to their song,
The falls of salmon, the seas full of mackerel,
Fish, meat or poultry praise all summer long
All that is generated, is born and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all negligence
Monuments of the Aged Intellect”.
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