The word "refrain" derives from the Old French word refraindre meaning to repeat. The REFRAIN poetry type has a phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after each stanza.

A famous example of a refrain are the words "Nothing More" and “Nevermore” which are repeated throughout Edgar Allan Poe's famous work, The Raven.

There is no set standard for amount of stanzas or rhyme scheme for the refrain poetry type.

Example by Edgar Allan Poe:

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow sorrow for the lost Lenore
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore
Nameless here for evermore.