The TERZA RIMA is a type of poetry consisting of 10 or 11 syllable lines arranged in three-line "tercets" that have an interlocking rhyme scheme. (aba bcb cdc etc...)

At least one expert claims that it is usually iambic pentameter and that it ends in a couplet as: yzy zz. But he seems to be incorrect on many of his assertions.

Another variation is ending with a uniformly rhymed triplet: aba bcb cdc...yzy zzz.

There is not a set number of stanzas in the terza rima, just that each stanza is made up of 3 lines, with the exception of the last stanza, which may end with an uniformly rhyming couplet OR tercet.



Example by Percy Bysshe Shelley:

excerpt from Ode To The West Wind

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: 0 thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed