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enclosed rhyme
Introduction References & Edit History
Quizzes
Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry
A Study of Poetry
4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul
Famous Poets and Poetic Form
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:
Poetry: First Lines
Quick Facts
Also called:
enclosing rhyme
Related Topics:
rhyme
introverted quatrain
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enclosed rhyme

poetry
Also known as: enclosing rhyme
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History

enclosed rhyme, in poetry, the rhyming pattern abba found in certain quatrains, such as the first verse of Matthew Arnoldā€™s ā€œShakespeareā€:

Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and askā€”thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,
Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,ā€¦