Structure, Metrical Requirement, Repetitive Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Isosyllabic

This is an isosyllabic fixed form in four sestets turning on only two rhymes with interweaving repetition. The sestets use alternating rhyme, as does the sicilian sestet. The last couplet is a refrain that appears in all four stanzas. The third and fourth lines in one stanza are the first and second in the next. So, there are only four lines not repeated: the first and second in the first stanza and the third and fourth in the fourth.

John Dryden

English

Rhyme and repetition:
abA1B1A2B2
A1B1A3B3A2B2
A3B3A4B4A2B2
A4B4abA2B2.

Where A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, B3, and B4 are
repetons or refrains.

Meter:
Xx Xx Xx Xx

6

24

English Madrigal, Sestet, Terzanelle, Villanelle

Incomplete