Terza Rima
Meter
In "The Defence of Guenevere," William Morris borrows a form called "terza rima" most commonly associated with The Divine Comedy by the Renaissance Italian poet Dante. But don't worry – even though it's got a weird Italian name, terza rima is actually a pretty easy form to get the hang of.
Terza rima is just a series of three-line stanzas, usually in iambic pentameter, that follow a set rhyme pattern of ABA, BCB, CDC, etc.
Iambic what? Yeah, let's start with the "iambic pentameter" part. That just refers to the set rhythm of the stressed and unstressed syllables of the words in the line. An "iamb" is two syllables. The first syllable is unstressed, the second is stressed. It makes the sound "da-DUM." "Pentameter" means there are five (penta = five, like a pentagon) iambs per line.
Let's check out an example of iambic pentameter in action. Here's the first line of the poem, with the syllables you would naturally stress typed in bold:
But, know|-ing now | that they | would have | her speak
Five "da-DUM" units, or five iambs. Iambic pentameter.
Rhyme
That covers the rhythm, or "meter," part of the terza rima form. Now let's think about the ABA BCB CDC rhyme pattern that we described. Check it out in the first three stanzas, where we've bolded the rhyming words:
But, knowing now that they would have her speak, (A)
She threw her wet hair backward from her brow, (B)
Her hand close to her mouth touching her cheek, (A)
As though she had had there a shameful blow, (B)
And feeling it shameful to feel ought but shame (C)
All through her heart, yet felt her cheek burned so, (B)
She must a little touch it; like one lame (C)
She walked away from Gauwaine, with her head (D)
Still lifted up; and on her cheek of flame (C)
Notice how the lines labeled with the same letter all end with a word that rhymes. For example, the lines labeled "C" end with the words "shame," "lame," and "flame."
One of the coolest things about terza rima is how the rhyme pattern interlaces the three-line stanzas – the "B" rhyme is introduced in the first stanza and then picked up in the second, while the "C" rhyme is introduced in the second and then picked up in the third, and so on.
But, Shmoop, you say, the word "brow" in line 2 isn't a perfect rhyme with "blow" and "so" in lines 4 and 6. Good catch. Occasionally Morris will throw in an imperfect rhyme or a word that looks like it should rhyme, like "brow" with "blow," but doesn't. (This is called an "eye rhyme," by the way, because it looks like it should rhyme.) Why do you think that is? Morris knew what he was doing – it wasn't because he couldn't come up with another word that rhymed with "so" and "blow." Whenever you find an imperfect rhyme, you should stop and try to figure out what's going on in the poem at that point. Is the speaker losing control? Could the imperfect rhyme signal a break in his or her train of thought?