Styles and Techniques: Quatrain

A quatrain is a poem consisting of four line verses with a scheme of either full or half rhyme. Here are a few of the possible rhyming schemes in a quatrain.

1. A-B-A-B
2. A-B-B-A ~ (envelope rhyme)
3. A-A-B-B
4. A-A-B-A, B-B-C-B, C-C-D-C, D-D-D-D ~ (chain rhyme)
5. A-B-C-B ~ (half rhyme)

Quatrains can be traced back to ancient civilizations such as Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, and they continue into the 21st century, where they appear in several languages. Here are a few examples of modern quatrains.

Tyger, tyger, burning bright!

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry

~ From William Blake's "The Tyger"

The circles of the stormy moon

Slide westward toward the River Plate

Death and the Raven drift above

And Sweeney guards the hornéd gate.

~ From T. S. Eliot's "Sweeney Among the Nightingales"

Series of quatrains are most often combined to form one whole poem, including in the cases above (the two examples I provided are excerpts from larger works). Of course, quatrains can stand alone as well, as in the example below.

Rolling beasts of liquid thunder

Bequeath their gift to ashen sand:

The heart and hand of wooden flame

A silent trade from sea to land

~ "The Gift"

One of the most common and beloved styles poetry of today, quatrains are a technique that will certainly not become extinct anytime soon. In fact, when people think of the word "poetry," quatrains, or something like them, are usually what comes immediately to their head.

~ Adam B.