Measures of verse

This is a glossary of poetry terminology.

Types of metre
Below, "short/long" definitions of a syllable of classical languages correspond to "unstressed/stressed" of English language.
 * Amphibrach: short-long-short
 * Amphimacer or cretic: long-short-long
 * Anapaest or antivdactylus: short-short-long
 * Choreus, choree same as Trochee: long-short
 * Dactyl: long-short-short
 * Iamb: short-long
 * Molossus: long-long-long
 * Pyrrhic or dibrach: short-short
 * Spondee: long-long
 * Tribrach: short-short-short
 * Trochee: long-short

Tetrasyllables

 * tetrabrach or proceleusmatic: short-short-short-short
 * quartus paeon: short-short-short-long
 * tertius paeon: short-short-long-short
 * minor ionic, or double iamb: short-short-long-long
 * secundus paeon: short-long-short-short
 * diamb: short-long-short-long
 * antispast: short-long-long-short
 * first epitrite: short-long-long-long
 * primus paeon: long-short-short-short
 * choriamb: long-short-short-long
 * ditrochee: long-short-long-short
 * second epitrite: long-short-long-long
 * major ionic: long-long-short-short
 * third epitrite: long-long-short-long
 * fourth epitrite: long-long-long-short
 * dispondee: long-long-long-long

Verse forms

 * 'a Gra' Reformata' Ten stanza's of ABA CD ABA CD ABA CD ABA CD ABA CD ABAC. Following the rhyme sheme of the 'Villanelle', but with five extra couplets just after each tercet.
 * Ballade: Three stanzas of "ababbcbC" followed by a refrain of "bcbC". The last line of each, indicated by the capital letter, is repeated verbatim.
 * Chant royal: Five stanzas of "ababccddedE" followed by either "ddedE" or "ccddedE". (The capital letters indicate a line repeated verbatim.)
 * Cinquain: "ababb".
 * Clerihew: "aabb".
 * Couplet: "aa", but usually occurs as "aa bb cc dd ...".
 * Enclosed rhyme (or enclosing rhyme): "abba".
 * Ghazal: "aa ba ca da ...".
 * Limerick: "aabba".
 * Monorhyme: "aaaaa...", an identical rhyme on every line, common in Latin and Arabic
 * Ottava rima: "abababcc".
 * Rhyme royal: "ababbcc".
 * Rondelet: "AbAabbA".
 * Rubaiyat: "aaba".
 * Sapphics
 * Petrarchan sonnet: "abba abba cde cde" or "abba abba cdc cdc".
 * Shakespearean sonnet: "abab cdcd efef gg".
 * Simple 4-line: "abcb"
 * Spenserian sonnet: "abab bcbc cdcd ee".
 * Onegin stanzas: "aBaBccDDeFFeGG" with the lowercase letters representing * Tanaga
 * Spenserian stanza: "ababbcbcc".
 * Tanaga: traditional Tagalog tanaga is aaaa
 * Terza rima: "aba bcb cdc ...", ending on "yzy z" or "yzy zz".
 * Triplet: "aaa", often repeating like the couplet.
 * Villanelle: A1bA2 abA1 abA2 abA1 abA2 abA1A2, where A1 and A2 are lines repeated exactly which rhyme with the a lines.