ottava rima

American  

[oh-tah-vuh ree-muh] / oʊˈtɑ və ˈri mə /

noun

ottava rimas plural

1. an Italian stanza of eight lines, each of eleven syllables (or, in the English adaptation, of ten or eleven syllables), the first six lines rhyming alternately and the last two forming a couplet with a different rhyme: used in Keats' Isabella and Byron's Don Juan.

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ottava rima British  

/ ˈriːmə /

noun

1. prosody a stanza form consisting of eight iambic pentameter lines, rhyming a b a b a b c c

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ottava rimas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ottava rima

1810–20; < Italian: octave rhyme

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ottava rima

Although an occasional narrative experiment might disrupt the format, what makes “Law & Order” special is precisely the fact that it has one, like a sonnet, a sestina, or an ottava rima.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2022

He bows gracefully to ottava rima, the sonnet and ballad.

From Time Magazine Archive

"English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" is a thoroughly Popeian satire, and "The Vision of Judgment," though not in couplets but in ottava rima, is one of the best personal satires in English.

From A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

In 1596 Drayton published his long and important poem of Mortimerades, which deals with the Wars of the Roses, and is a very serious production in ottava rima.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 7 "Drama" to "Dublin" by Various

The versification again exhibits novel features, the piece being for the most part in ottava rima with the introduction of settenarî couplets.

From Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama A Literary Inquiry, with Special Reference to the Pre-Restoration Stage in England by Greg, Walter W.