# Tercet

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{{Short description|Poetry composed of three lines}}
A '''tercet''' is composed of three lines of [poetry](/source/poetry), forming a [stanza](/source/stanza) or a complete poem.<ref>William Baer, ''Writing metrical poetry: contemporary lessons for mastering traditional forms'', 2006, "Chapet 9: The Tercet" pp 128ff.</ref>

==Examples of tercet forms==

[English-language haiku](/source/Haiku_in_English) is an example of an unrhymed tercet poem. A poetic triplet is a tercet in which all three lines follow the same [rhyme](/source/rhyme_scheme), <math>\mathrm{AAA}</math>; triplets are rather rare; they are more customarily used sparingly in verse of [heroic couplet](/source/heroic_couplet)s or other couplet verse, to add extraordinary emphasis.<ref>Baer 2006.</ref>

Other types of tercet include an enclosed tercet where the lines rhyme in an <math>\mathrm{ABA}</math> pattern and [terza rima](/source/terza_rima) where the <math>\mathrm{ABA}</math> pattern of a verse is continued in the next verse by making the outer lines of the next stanza rhyme with the central line of the preceding stanza, <math>\mathrm{BCB}</math>, as in the ''terza rima'' or ''terzina'' form of [Dante Alighieri](/source/Dante_Alighieri)'s ''[Divine Comedy](/source/Divine_Comedy)''. There has been much investigation of the possible sources of the Dantesque ''terzina'', which [Benedetto Croce](/source/Benedetto_Croce) characterised as "linked, enclosed, disciplined, vehement and yet calm".<ref>Croce,  (M.E. Moss, tr.) ''Essays on Literature and Literary Criticism'', 1990, "Dante's poetry", p 290.</ref> William Baer observes of the tercets of terza rima, "These interlocking rhymes tend to pull the listener's attention forward in a continuous flow.... Given this natural tendency to glide forward, terza rima is especially well-suited to narration and description".<ref>Baer 2006, p. 130.</ref>

The tercet also forms part of the [villanelle](/source/villanelle), where the initial five stanzas are tercets, followed by a concluding [quatrain](/source/quatrain).<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-05-21|title=Tercet - Examples and Definition of Tercet|url=https://literarydevices.net/tercet/|access-date=2021-06-29|website=Literary Devices|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Claggett|first=Mary Frances|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8g9KAAAAYAAJ|title=Teaching Writing: Craft, Art, Genre|date=2005|publisher=National Council of Teachers of English|isbn=978-0-8141-5250-8|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Soles|first=Derek|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5LkWAQAAMAAJ|title=The Prentice Hall Pocket Guide to Understanding Literature|date=2002|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=978-0-13-026994-2|language=en}}</ref>

A tercet may also form the separate halves of the ending [sestet](/source/sestet) in a [Petrarchan sonnet](/source/Petrarchan_sonnet), where the rhyme scheme is <math>\mathrm{ABBAABBACDCCDC}</math>, as in Longfellow's "Cross of Snow". For example, while "Cross of Snow" is indeed a Petrarchan sonnet, it does not follow the form of<math>\mathrm{ABBA. ABBA \,\, CDC,CDC}</math>.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kahn|first=Aaron M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLwcEAAAQBAJ|title=The Oxford Handbook of Cervantes|date=2021-02-16|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-106058-8|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cox|first=Virginia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPAMXG_0NUYC|title=Lyric Poetry by Women of the Italian Renaissance|date=2013-07-31|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-1-4214-0950-4|language=en}}</ref> Instead, its form is <math>\mathrm{ABBA \,\, CDDC \,\, EFG \,\, EFG}</math>. A tercet also ends [sestina](/source/sestina)s where the keywords of the lines before are repeated in a highly ordered form.

==History==
Tercets (or ''tristichs'') using [parallelism](/source/Parallelism_(rhetoric)) appear in [Biblical](/source/Biblical_poetry) [Hebrew](/source/Hebrew_language) poetry.<ref>Kugel, James ''The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism & Its History''. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1981 {{ISBN|9780801859441}}</ref><ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11902-parallelism-in-hebrew-poetry Jewish Encyclopedia.com]</ref>

The tercet was introduced into [English poetry](/source/English_poetry) by [Sir Thomas Wyatt](/source/Thomas_Wyatt_(poet)) in the 16th century. It was employed by [Shelley](/source/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley) and is the form used in [Byron](/source/George_Gordon%2C_Lord_Byron)'s ''The Prophecy of Dante''.<ref>Noted in ''[Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia](/source/Benet's_Reader's_Encyclopedia)'', 1948, s.v. "tercet", "terza rima"</ref>

==See also==
*[Triadic-line poetry](/source/Triadic-line_poetry)
*[Trimeter](/source/Trimeter)
*[Haiku](/source/Haiku)
*[Haiku in English](/source/Haiku_in_English)

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wiktionary}}
*[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174352 Threnos tercet stanzas 'The Phoenix and the Turtle' William Shakespeare]
*[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176777 Robert Herrick's rhymed example 'Upon Julia's Clothes']

{{Poetic forms}}

Category:Stanzaic form
Category:Poetic forms

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tercet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tercet) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tercet?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.