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What Is Ottava Rima? The Eight-Line Stanza Explained
Ottava rima is an eight-line stanza that rhymes ABABABCC. The first six lines alternate between two rhymes, and the last two rhyme with each other as a couplet. The rest is craft. This guide covers where the stanza came from, how its closing couplet works, and four steps for writing one.
The Shape of the Stanza
The name is Italian for eighth rhyme, and the numbers are exact: eight lines, three rhymes, ABABABCC. Once you know how a rhyme scheme is mapped, the pattern reads at a glance — each letter marks a family of end sounds, and the doubled C tells you the stanza closes with a rhymed pair.
Two things define the form and one does not. Lines: eight. Rhymes: ABABABCC. Meter: free in principle, though English poets almost always choose iambic pentameter, because ten syllables leave room for a clause to finish. The stanza is also called an octave, the same word used for the first eight lines of an Italian sonnet, so keep the stanza as the unit of thought: one movement of scene or argument.
Where the Form Comes From
Ottava rima appeared in fourteenth-century Italy, where Boccaccio used it for long narrative poems. English writers kept the stanza and refitted it for ten-syllable lines. Byron's Don Juan is the landmark English use, running to hundreds of comic, digressive octaves; Yeats came to it later for poems such as Among School Children, and Auden used it too. The form carries two temperaments at once: it can sustain a long story, and it can deliver a joke.
How the Eight Lines Hold Together
The stanza below was written for this page; the letters mark the rhyme families.
The kettle finds its thin and patient note, (A) the window holds a grey and moving sky, (B) the house puts on its winter overcoat, (A) and all the stiffened wires begin to cry. (B) I warm my hands and clear my throat, (A) and wait for light to climb the hill and dry. (B) The morning keeps whatever it has found, (C) and I keep only this: a kettle's sound. (C)
Lines one to six rock between the note / coat / throat family and the sky / cry / dry family. Then lines seven and eight rhyme with each other and nothing else, so the ear finally gets closure. The couplet can agree with the stanza, reverse it, or step sideways; it lands as a verdict because the alternation has stopped. That hinge is why many poets draft the last two lines first.
Four Steps for Writing One
- Fix the subject and the turn. Choose what the stanza is about and what it ends by saying about it. An octave that only describes has no need of its couplet.
- Write the closing couplet first. Get the rhymed pair that carries the turn. With C settled, the middle lines stop drifting.
- Fill in the first six lines. Let sentences cross the line ends so the rhymes land inside the syntax, not on top of it, and keep the A and B families in view.
- Read aloud and repair the rhymes. Mark every end word, confirm the pattern is exactly ABABABCC, then rewrite any line that bent its meaning for a sound.
Where It Gets Difficult
English has fewer easy rhymes than Italian, so a strict pentameter octave can push a writer towards padded syntax. Three responses work better than forcing it: choose rhyme families before drafting and let the vocabulary grow out of them; use slant rhyme rather than a false one; and lean on enjambment so a line can end mid-thought, since a rhyme on a run-on line is felt without being obtrusive. Varying the line break also stops eight lines from settling into a dull tread.
Three Practice Tasks
- Complete the pattern. Take lines two, four and six of any octave, write lines one, three and five to fit, then finish the couplet. The A rhyme constrains the opening more than you expect.
- Convert free verse. Take eight lines of your own unrhymed writing on one subject and rewrite them into ABABABCC. Keep the images that survive and cut whatever only filled space.
- Write two linked stanzas. End the first with a claim and open the second with its qualification. The form is at its best when stanza two answers stanza one.
Ottava Rima and Its Neighbours
| Form | Length | Pattern | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ottava rima | 8 lines | ABABABCC | Narrative and satire |
| Terza rima | 3-line chains | ABA BCB CDC | Forward-moving narrative |
| Sonnet | 14 lines | Varies by type | Single argument with a turn |
| Sestina | 39 lines | Repeated end words | Return to a few ideas |
| Villanelle | 19 lines | Refrains | Circling one feeling |
The practical difference is what carries the poem forward. Ottava rima advances by argument and closes with a couplet; terza rima advances by interlocking chain and never quite closes; a sonnet turns once; a sestina turns through repetition.
Reading Byron in Translation
In translation, rhyme is usually what goes missing first. A translator who keeps the sense and drops the pattern is making a defensible choice, and one who keeps ABABABCC sometimes pays for it in precision. Read the sentences before judging the sound, and check whether the couplet still arrives as a turn.
Common Mistakes
- Writing eight lines as ABABCDCD, which is two quatrains, not an octave.
- Ending with two unrhymed lines, which removes the form's closing move.
- Dropping the C rhyme midway, so lines seven and eight no longer pair.
- Forcing a rhyme that reverses a sentence's meaning; better to slant than to break the thought.
- Padding the middle lines to reach a sound, which leaves the octave long but empty.
Frequently asked questions
What is ottava rima in simple terms?
It is a stanza of eight lines that rhymes ABABABCC. The first six lines alternate between two rhymes, and the final two rhyme with each other as a couplet.
What meter does ottava rima use?
The rhyme scheme is fixed but the meter is not; strictly the form is eight lines in ABABABCC. English poets almost always use iambic pentameter, because that line length suits the long, conversational sentences the form invites.
Why does ottava rima end with a couplet?
The pair closes the stanza with a snap. After six lines of alternating rhyme, the ear expects more alternation, and the paired line lands like a verdict or a punchline. Byron used that turn to undercut whatever the first six lines had built.
Is ottava rima only for long poems?
No. It grew up inside long narrative poems, and Byron used it for one of the longest in English, but a single octave works as a standalone poem. Two or three linked stanzas are enough to test whether the form suits the subject.
Can you write ottava rima without perfect rhymes?
Yes, within limits. Slant rhyme, where the vowel or the final consonant almost matches, is common in modern practice and keeps the sentence in charge. The pattern still has to be audible, though, or the stanza reads as free verse.