Quatrain

A quatrain is a stanza of a poem that is written with four lines. Usually these lines will have a similar number of syllables, giving the poem an even look and a well-rounded feel when it is recited. It is the most common and most recognizable form of English poetry, allowing poets to use symmetrical rhyme schemes of AABB or ABAB. For a poem like "Merlin Enthralled," the quatrain allows for short stanzas that lend themselves to quick and frequent changes of scene and point of view. Even though the focus of the poem changes frequently, these transitions are smoothed over by the fact that the traditional quatrain structure is familiar to most readers. In addition, its geometric density gives readers a sense of stability that might have been lost by the poem's uneven, mysterious sense of what is real and what is illusion.

Rhyme

Rhyming poems use...