| a four-line iambic pentameter stanza rhyming alternately. |
| heroic stanza n. A four-line stanza consisting of two heroic couplets. |
heroic stanza
in poetry, a rhymed quatrain in heroic verse with rhyme scheme abab. The form was used by William Shakespeare and John Dryden, among others, and was also called an elegiac stanza after the publication in the mid-18th century of Thomas Gray's poem "An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard."
Learn more about heroic stanza with a free trial on Britannica.com.