Ottava rima is arhymingstanza form ofItalian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing ofmock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings ofGiovanni Boccaccio.
The ottava rima stanza inEnglish consists of eightiambic lines, usuallyiambic pentameters. Each stanza consists of three alternate rhymes and one double rhyme, following the ABABABCCrhyme scheme. The form is similar to the olderSicilian octave, but evolved separately and is unrelated. The Sicilian octave is derived from the medievalstrambotto and was a crucial step in the development of thesonnet, whereas the ottava rima is related to thecanzone, astanza form.
Boccaccio usedottava rima for a number of minor poems and, most significantly, for two of his major works, theTeseide (1340) and theFilostrato (c. 1335). These two poems defined the form as the main one to be used forepic poetry in Italian for the next two centuries. For instance,ottava rima was used byPoliziano and byBoiardo in his 1486 epic poemOrlando Innamorato. The following year,Luigi Pulci published hisMorgante Maggiore in which the mock-heroic, half-serious, half-burlesque use of the form that is most familiar to modern English-language readers first appeared. However, poets such asLudovico Ariosto andTorquato Tasso continued to useottava rima for serious epic poetry.
Canto l’arme pietose, e ’l Capitano | The sacred armies, and the godly knight, |
| —Tasso:Gerusalemme Liberata, lines 1-8 | —Translated byEdward Fairfax |
In the epoch ofBaroqueGiambattista Marino[1] employed ottava rima inAdone (1623). Another important work was written by a woman,Lucrezia Marinella, the author of long epic poemL'Enrico, ovvero Bisanzio acquistato (Enrico, or, Byzantium Conquered), that was translated into English by Maria Galli Stampino.[2] There are also many other examples of using the stanza. Many classic works were translated into ottava rima. It was later used in Italianlibretti; perhaps the most famous example ends with the title of the comicoperaCosì fan tutte (1789).
In English, ottava rima first appeared inElizabethan translations of Tasso and Ariosto. The form also became popular for original works, such asMichael Drayton'sThe Barons' Wars,Thomas Heywood'sTroia Britannica, orEmilia Lanier'sSalve Deus Rex Judaeorum.William Browne'sBritannia's Pastorals also contains passages in ottava rima. The first English poet to write mock-heroic ottava rima wasJohn Hookham Frere, whose 1817-8 poemProspectus and Specimen of an Intended National Work used the form to considerable effect.Lord Byron read Frere's work and saw the potential of the form. He quickly producedBeppo, his first poem to use the form. Shortly after this, Byron began working on hisDon Juan (1819–1824), probably the best-known English poem inottava rima. Byron also used the form forThe Vision of Judgment (1822).Shelley translated theHomeric Hymns into English in ottava rima. In the 20th century,William Butler Yeats used the form in several of his best later poems, including "Sailing to Byzantium" and "Among School Children".[3] So didKenneth Koch for instance in his autobiographical poem "Seasons on Earth" of 1987.[4] In AmericaEmma Lazarus wrote the poemAn Epistle that consists of thirty four ottava rimas. EarlierRichard Henry Wilde used the stanza in his long poemHesperia.[5]In keeping with the "mock-heroic" tone, Kevin McAleer wrote his 2018 biography of actorErrol Flynn entirely in ottava rima.[6]
FromFrere'sProspectus and Specimen of an Intended National Work, commonly known asThe Monks and the Giants[7]
But chiefly, when the shadowy moon had shed
O'er woods and waters her mysterious hue,
Their passive hearts and vacant fancies fed
With thoughts and aspirations strange and new,
Till their brute souls with inward working bred
Dark hints that in the depths of instinct grew
Subjection not fromLocke's associations,
NorDavid Hartley's doctrine of vibrations.
"Go, little book, from this my solitude!
I cast thee on the waters – go thy ways!
And if, as I believe, thy vein be good,
The world will find thee after many days."
WhenSouthey's read, andWordsworth understood,
I can't help putting in my claim to praise –
The four first rhymes are Southey's every line:
For God's sake, reader! take them not for mine.
FromConstance Naden'sA Modern Apostle (1887)[8]
For she, with innocent clear sight, had found
That those about her merely thought of thinking,
And felt they ought to feel; with quick rebound
She drew her life away from theirs, and shrinking
From windy verbiage, craved some solid ground,
Trying to satisfy her soul by linking
Truths abstract; no vague talk of liberal views
Can alter cosine and hypotenuse.
FromAnthony Burgess'sByrne: A Novel
He thought he was a kind of living myth
And hence deserving of ottava rima,
The scheme that Ariosto juggled with,
Apt for a lecherous defective dreamer.
He'd have preferred a stronger-muscled smith,
Anvilling rhymes amid poetic steam, a
Sort of Lord Byron. Byron was long dead.
This poetaster had to do instead.
FromEmma Lazarus'sAn Epistle
Master and Sage, greetings and health to thee,
From thy most meek disciple! Deign once more
Endure me at thy feet, enlighten me,
As when upon my boyish head of yore,
Midst the rapt circle gathered round thy knee
Thy sacred vials of learning thou didst pour.
By the large lustre of thy wisdom orbed
Be my black doubts illumined and absorbed.
TheSpanish poetsBoscán,Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga andLope de Vega all experimented with ottava rima at one time or another. It is also the meter of several medievalYiddish epic poems, such as theBovo-Bukh (1507–1508), which were adaptations of Italian epics.
In Russia,Pavel Katenin instigated a high-profile dispute on the proper way of translating Italian epics, which resulted inAlexander Pushkin's ottava rima poem "The Little House in Kolomna" (1830), which took its cue fromLord Byron'sBeppo. Pushkin's poem opens with a lengthy tongue-in-cheek discussion of the merits of ottava rima.
In Germany (or other German-speaking countries) ottava rima occurred not so often as in Italy, but was used in long works.Paul Heyse, a Nobel Prize laureate for the year 1910, used it in his poems (Die Braut von Cypern).Rainer Maria Rilke, regarded as the greatest German language lyric poet of the 20th century, wroteWinterliche Stanzen in ABABABCC scheme.
Nun sollen wir versagte Tage lange
ertragen in des Widerstandes Rinde;
uns immer wehrend, nimmer an der Wange
das Tiefe fühlend aufgetaner Winde.
Die Nacht ist stark, doch von so fernem Gange,
die schwache Lampe überredet linde.
Laß dichs getrösten: Frost und Harsch bereiten
die Spannung künftiger Empfänglichkeiten.
Luís de Camões's 16th-century epicOs Lusíadas, the most important epic in the Portuguese language, is not only one of the longest poems written in ottava rima (it consists of 1,102 stanzas[9]), but is recognized as one of the great epics of European literature.
As armas e os barões assinalados, | The feats of Arms, and famed heroick Host, |
| —Luís Vaz de Camões,Os Lusíadas, 1-8 | —Translated byRichard Francis Burton |
Camões was not the only Portuguese poet to use ottava rima. Many Portuguese and Brazilian poets wrote great epic poems using the stanza, for exampleGabriel Pereira de Castro (1571–1632):Ulisseia ou Lisboa Edificada (1636),Vasco Mouzinho de Quevedo (16th/17th century):Afonso Africano,Francisco de Sá de Meneses (1600–1664):Malaca Conquistada (1634),António de Sousa Macedo (1606–1682):Ulissipo (1640),Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas:Viriato Trágico andJosé de Santa Rita Durão (1722–1784):Caramuru (1781).
Ottava rima was very popular in the Polish literature of the 17th century, which was under strong influence of Italian poetry. The scheme ABABABCC was introduced into Polish poetry bySebastian Grabowiecki and made widespread byPiotr Kochanowski, who translatedJerusalem Delivered byTorquato Tasso. It was used byJan Andrzej Morsztyn,Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski,Wespazjan Kochowski,Samuel Twardowski andWacław Potocki.[11] During The Enlightenment bishop and poetIgnacy Krasicki wrote his mock-epics (Monachomachia,Antymonachomachia andMyszeida) in ottava rima.[12] In the beginning of 19th centuryDyzma Bończa-Tomaszewski attempted to write a national epicJagiellonida. His work, however, is not longer remembered. LaterJuliusz Słowacki, one of the greatest romantic poets, wrote two long poems,Beniowski andKról Duch (King Spirit), using the stanza. Another important attempt to write a modern epic poem in ottava rima wasMaria Konopnicka'sPan Balcer w Brazylii (Mr. Balcer in Brazil). Poems written in ottava rima are usually translated into Polish in the same form. LatelyLa Araucana byAlonso de Ercilla was translated in such a way byCzesław Ratka.
In Czech poetry,Jaroslav Vrchlický,[13] generally considered to be the greatest poet of the second half of 19th century, used ottava rima several times, for example in short poemOdpověď (An Answer) that is composed of only two stanzas.[14] Vrchlický was well trained in the use of the stanza as he translatedLudovico Ariosto'sOrlando Furioso (Roland Enraged) into Czech.
In Slovenian literature ottava rima was used byFrance Prešeren, the greatest romantic poet, sometimes, among others, inKrst pri Savici (The Baptism on the Savica), that is considered to be a national epic of Slovenian people. Prologue to the poem is written interza rima.
In Danish literature ottava rima was used byFrederik Paludan-Müller and others. He used the stanza in his long poem,Adam Homo. The poet implemented the scheme freely and often used, for example, the sequence ABABBACC instead of ABABABCC.[15]
In Swedish poetry ottava rima was used byEsaias Tegnér in his epicFrithiof's Saga.
In Finnish literature ottava rima was used byEino Leino in some parts of bookJuhana Herttuan ja Catharina Jagellonican lauluja (Songs of Prince John and Catherine the Jagellonian).