abab
Basic verse pattern
Abab is a rhyme scheme in poetry where alternating lines rhyme with each other—the first line rhymes with the third, the second with the fourth: Roses are red / violets are blue / sugar is sweet / and so are you.
The pattern can repeat through multiple stanzas.
Four-line poetic unit
- stanzaPoem's line grouping
- verseMetered poetic passage
- poetryMetrical literary composition
- sonnetFourteen-line metered poem
ballad · limerick · ode · couplet · villanelle · meter · cadence · rhythm
Recurring arrangement or template
- alternationSequential interchange of elements
- sequenceOrdered succession of elements
- balanceSteadiness or amount owed
- repetitionAct of redoing
mirror · bilateral · correspondence · regularity · uniformity · structure · binary · oscillation
quatrain
Four-line poetic unit
sonnet · ballad · limerick · ode · couplet · villanelle · meter · cadence · rhythm · refrain
pattern
Recurring arrangement or template
- alternationSequential interchange of elements
- sequenceOrdered succession of elements
- balanceSteadiness or amount owed
repetition · mirror · bilateral · correspondence · regularity · uniformity · structure · binary · oscillation · periodicity
ababcouplets
Paired rhyming verse lines
aa · rhyming couplets · free verse · blank verse · unrhymed