Home › Glossary › Letter T

Terzanelle

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A nineteen-line fixed form blending the repeating refrains of the villanelle with the interlocking tercets of terza rima.

Detailed Definition
A terzanelle combines the villanelle’s refrains with the terza rima’s interlocking rhyme scheme (ABA BCB CDC, etc.), typically comprising 19 lines; it merges cyclic repetition with forward-propelling rhyme to create a hybrid form of obsessive yet progressive lyricism.
Example
Example in poetry:
Terzanelle: Excerpt from Lewis Turco’s “Terzanelle in Thunderweather”: “The sky is bruised, the wind is rough and loud, / The thunder growls, the lightning leaps and stings, / The rain is silver whips upon the crowd. / The thunder growls, the lightning leaps and stings, / And night descends in torrents from the cloud...” (This form combines terza rima and villanelle, repeating lines 1 and 3 as refrains throughout five triplets and a final quatrain.)
Additional Notes
19-line form combining terza rima with villanelle structure. Complex interlocking scheme. Study for challenging formal exercise. Related forms: villanelle, terza rima. Requires careful planning.
Also Known As
Pantoum tercets Terzanelle form Hybrid villanelle-terza rima Interlocking nineteen-liner
Skip to main content