A RISPETTO is an Italian form of poetry. It is a complete poem of two rhyme quatrains with strict meter. Often the rhyme scheme is abab ccdd, and the meter is iambic tetrameter.


Example by Sara Teasdale:

Rispetto

Was that his step that sounded on the stair?
Was that his knock I heard upon the door?
I grow so tired I almost cease to care,
And yet I would that he might come once more.

It was the wind I heard, that mocks at me,
The bitter wind that is more cruel than he;
It was the wind that knocked upon the door,
But he will never knock nor enter more.