My fresh green years, &c., &c.
The terza-rima has not the compact structure of the sonnet, as in each of its stanzas a rhyme is wanting which is only supplied in the following stanza. For this reason it seems to be especially adapted for epic or reflective poetry.
Comparatively few examples of this form are met with in English poetry, as e.g. in Sidney, S. Daniel, Drummond, Milton, and Shelley (cf. Metrik, ii, § 572).
In Sidney and R. Browning (iii. 102) we also find a variety of the terza-rima consisting of four-foot verses, and in Browning some others formed of four-stressed verses (iv. 288).
Some similar rhyme-systems of three lines, occurring in Sidney and Drummond, are of less importance (cf. ib., § 573)
§ 319. Certain other varieties of the terza-rima, although found in recent poets, need only be briefly noticed here.
One of four lines on the model a a b a5 b b c b5 c c d c5, &c., occurs in Swinburne, Poems, ii. 32, 34, 239; another on the scheme a a b a5, c c b c5, d d e d5, &c., ib. i. 13; a third one, following the formula a b c3 b2, a b c3 b2, a b c3 b2, called Triads, ib. ii. 159 (cf. Metrik, ii, § 564).
Five-lined forms, similar to the terza-rima, occur in Sidney, e.g. abcdd, efghh, iklmm, the rhymeless lines being connected by sectional rhyme, the stanzas themselves likewise by sectional rhyme; another on the model a5 b3 c5 c3 B5, B5 d3 e5 e3 D5, D5 f3 g5 g3 F5; and a third on the scheme a3 a5 b c3 b5, c3 c5 d e3 d5, e3 e5 f g3 f5, &c. A related form, a b a b c4, c d c d e4, ... y z y z z4, is found in Mrs. Browning (iv. 44). For specimen cf. Metrik, ii, § 575.
A terza-rima system of six lines may be better mentioned in this section than together with the sub-varieties of the sextain, as was done in Metrik, ii, §578; they pretty often occur in Sidney, e.g. Pansies, ix (Grosart, i. 202), on the schemes a b a b c b, c d c d e d, e f e f g f, v w v w x w, ... x y x y z y y.
In Spenser’s Pastoral Aeglogue on Sidney (pp. 506–7) a rhyme-system according to a b c a b c5, d b e d f e5, g f h g i h5, k i l k m l5, &c. is met with; in Mrs. Browning (iii. 236) a much simpler system, constructed of five-foot lines on the formula a b a b a b c d c d c d e f e f e f, &c., is used.