Types Of Poetry:

Attributed to Balint Balassi, the BALASSI STANZA is a nine-line stanzaic form where the lines are grouped in three-line sets with syllable counts 6, 6, and 7. The first two lines in the set is a couplet. The third, longer line carries the main rhyme in the third, sixth, and ninth line of the stanza.

The Following Text Is Quoted:

Schematic:
xxxxxb
xxxxxb
xxxxxxa
xxxxxc
xxxxxc
xxxxxxa
xxxxxd
xxxxxd
xxxxxxa

where x are the syllables, a the main rhyme; b & c 1st 2 lines of each stanza

Example by Jacquii Cooke:

Within The Wind

Though the wind embraces
Skins of many races
Many have been blown away

Forsook they did the day
When lovers' joy became
Destiny without a name

Katrina testified
Oh! Hard tears she did cry
Yet with the wind she still lays