The poet who used Tercet Stanza Pattern in poetry
Tercets or Terza Rima are
three-line verses or stanzas in poetry, and many poets have used this form in
their work. Word Tercet is derived from Latin word ‘Tertius’. A tercet stanza of poetry contains three lines; it may
be a single-stanza poem or it can be a verse surrounded in a larger poem. It
can have several rhyme schemes, or several lines without any rhyme scheme.
There are five major type of Tercet Stanza
1.
Terza Rima:
The middle
line of the first stanza couplets with the first and third lines of the second
stanza, and so on. The Rhyme pattern appears like ABA BCB CDC.
2.
Sicilian tercet:
A Sicilian tercet is written on iambic
pentameter and is more rhythmically-structured.
3.
Enclosed tercet:
It is a tercet with a rhyme scheme of ABA.
In it first and third line creates a rhyme scheme.
4.
Haiku:
Originated from Japanese
Poetry, poems are based on three unrhymed lines.
5.
Triplet:
It is poetry based on tercet
stanza having rhyme pattern like AAA.
Poet Who Used Tercet Stanza in
Poetry
Dante Alighieri - Dante used Terza
Rima, a specific type of tercet, in his famous work "The Divine
Comedy." His Poem Inferno was written on Tercet Stanza Pattern.
Inferno Canto.1
Italian Example
Nel mezzo del cammin di
nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva
oscura,
ché la diritta via era
smarrita.
Translated in English
In the middle of our life's
journey
I found myself in a dark
forest,
for the straight path was
lost.
Thomas Wyatt s’ Use of Tercet
Stanza:
Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced this
tercet stanza in his poetry in 16th Century. You can say that Thomas
Wyatt was the pioneer and founder of Tercet Stanza in English Poetry. After
that P.B Shelly used it in his poetry.
Thomas Wyatt s’ Poem Example of
Tercet Stanza
From Second Satire
Sir Thomas Wyatt
My mother’s maids, when they
did sew and spin,
They sang sometimes a song of
the field mouse,
That for because their
livelihood was but so thin
Would needs go seek her
townish sister’s house.
She thought herself endured
to much pain:
The stormy blasts her cave so
sore did souse…
Geoffrey Chaucer s’ Poems Following
Tercet Stanza Pattern:
Geoffrey Chaucer is well-known as
the "Father of English Literature," and is most celebrated for his
works "The Canterbury Tales." One of the tales inside this
collection, "Troilus and Criseyde," is an illustration of
Chaucer's use of tercet stanzas. In "Troilus and Criseyde," Chaucer
uses rhyme royal, a seven-line stanza in iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme
of ABABBCC.
Here's an extract from the opening
of "Troilus and Criseyde" to illustrate Chaucer's use of tercet
stanzas:
Example of Tercet Stanza
The double sorwe of Troilus
to tellen,
That was the king Priamus
sone of Troye,
In lovinge, how his aventures
fellen
Fro wo to wele, and after out
of joye,
My purpos is, er that I parte
fro ye.
Thesiphone, thou help me for
tendyte
Thise woful vers, that wepen
as I wryte!
Petrarch Use of Tercet Stanza:
An Italian poet, Petrarch often
employed Tercets in his sonnets. His sonnets are called often as Petrarchan sonnet.
He writes these sonnets on Tercet Stanza. His mostly sonnets are of 14 lines.
He did not use Tercet Stanza as it was used by Geoffrey Chaucer.
John Milton Use of Tercet Stanza:
John Milton is a famous poet of 17th
century. He got worldwide fame when he wrote “Paradise Lost”. This epic was
written on blank verse pattern. Milton never used Tercet Stanza in ‘Paradise
Lost’. In his poem ‘Lycidas’ he occasionally used Tercet Stanza. This elegy was
written in response to death of Edward King.
Here are some lines taken from this
poem as example of Tercet Stanza by Milton
Return Alpheus, the dread
voice is past,
That shrunk thy streams;
return Sicilian Muse,
And call the vales, and bid
them hither cast
John Keats’ Use of Tercet Stanzas
in his Odes:
John Keats is a romantic poet. He
usually writes Odes, sonnets and quatrains. His famous ‘Ode on Nightingale’ is
written on Tercet Stanza to some extent.
Example of Keats’ Use of Tercet
Stanza:
My heart aches, and a drowsy
numbness pains
My sense, as though of
hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate
to the drains
One minute past, and
Lethe-wards had sunk:
Poetess Elizabeth Sewell s’ Use of
Tercet Stanza:
Elizabeth Sewell Indian born of
English was a famous poetess. She did a degree in modern languages from Cambridge
University. She visited Unites States and became American national. Her famous
poem ‘New Year Resolutions’ is best example of poem written on Tercet Stanza of
on Terza Rima Patten.
Here are lines of that poem,
New Year Resolutions
I will drain
Long draughts of quiet
As a purgation;
Remember
Twice daily
Who I am;
Will lie o’nights
In the bony arms
Of Reality and be comforted
P.B Shelly s’ Use of Tercet Stanza:
Percy Bysshe Shelley, another famous
Romantic poet used tercet stanza in some of his works. One prominent example is
his lyrical drama "Prometheus Unbound," where he employed a variety
of verse forms, including terza rima.
Example:
To suffer woes which Hope
thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than
death or night;
To defy Power, which seems
omnipotent;
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