Octave (poetry)

For other uses, see Octave (disambiguation).

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Sonnet studies
Main
Sonnet Iambic pentameter Octave • Sestet Quatrain • Couplet Volta Sonnet writers
Forms
Petrarchan sonnet Spenserian sonnet Shakespearean sonnet Petrarch's and Shakespeare's sonnets
Variations
Quatorzain • Fourteener Caudate sonnet • Curtal sonnet Demi-sonnet • Pushkin sonnet
Groups
Crown of sonnets • Sonnet cycle Sonnet redoublé Sonnet sequence
How to ...
Write a sonnet Write a sonnet like Shakespeare

Octave is the generic name for any 8-line poem or stanza, regardless of rhyme or meter. Examples include:

• Canzonetta. Rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-c-d-c-D (Or prima canzonetta, a-b-a-b-c-b-c-B - capital letter signals refrain). No specified meter.
• Common octave (or Hymnal octave). Rhyme scheme a-b-c-b-a-b-c-b. Common meter.
• Huitain. Rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-b-c-b-c or a-b-a-b-a-c-a-c. Eight-syllable or ten-syllable lines.
• Italian octave. Rhyme scheme a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a. no specified meter (Iambic pentameter (IP) in English).
• Ottava rima. Rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-a-b-c-c. No specified meter (IP in English).
• Sicilian octave. Rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-a-b-a-b. No specified meter (IP in English).
• Strambutto Tuccano. Rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-a-b-c-c. Hendecasyllables.
• Strambutto Siciliano. Rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-a-b-a-b. Hendecasyllables.

In sonnet

An octave is also the first 8-line part of an Italian or Petrarchan sonnet (which ends with a contrasting 6-line sestet). In traditional Italian sonnets the octave always develops and concludes one idea, which gives way to another idea in the sestet. While different sestets were used by Italian sonneteers, most used the Italian octave (which rhymes a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a).

See also

Two other octave forms with Italian origins:

• ottava rima
• Sicilian octave

External links

• Poetic Form: Sonnet - Poets.org