Octave (poetry) - Citizendia

For other uses of the term see octave.

An octave is a verse form consisting of eight lines of iambic pentameter (in English) or of hendecasyllables (in Italian). Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in Poetry and Drama. Hendecasyllable verse (in Italian endecasillabo) is a kind of verse used mostly in Italian Poetry, defined by its having the last The most common rhyme scheme for an octave is abba abba. A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming Lines in a Poem or Song.

An octave is the first part of a Petrarchan sonnet, which ends with a contrasting sestet. The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in Lyric poetry from Europe. A sestet is the name given to the second division of a Sonnet, which must consist of an octave, of eight lines succeeded by a sestet of six lines In traditional Italian sonnets the octave always ends with a conclusion of one idea, giving way to another idea in the sestet. Some English sonnets break that rule, often to striking effect. In Milton's Sonnet 19, the sestet begins early, halfway through the last line of the octave:

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is death to hide

Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest he returning chide,

"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"

I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need

Either man's work or his own gifts: who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed

And post o'er land and ocean without rest:

They also serve who only stand and wait. "

Patience's too-quick reply intrudes upon the integrity of the octave. Since "prevent" also means "anticipate," it is as if Patience is giving the answer before the question is finished.

See also