Guess what? We’re working with couplets – those all so important two little lines that are the root of so many poems. In this case, the Ottava Rima have four couplets or eight lines with a particular rhyme scheme. Give it a try.
Rhyme scheme: ABABABCC
Strange occurrence did me behold tonight
Upon the hill under moonshine clasping
Did I see a shadow rise in flight
It were no ghost nor demon’s hand grasping
But some spell of nature’s own dev’lish might
The shadow reached toward heaven rasping
Did I hear a cry forewarning the end,
Or only echos from poems long ago penned?
Well done.