Quatrain

See The Quatrain That Started Nostradamus' Reputation as a Prophet for Nostradamus' most famous quatrain.

A stanza unit of four lines. In English poetry, the quatrain is the most common form of stanza. When rhymed, stanzas tend to fall into categories:

• a/b/a/b - Shakespearean
• a/b/b/a - Petrarchean
• a/a/x/a - Omar Khayyám stanza
• a/a/a/a - Monorhyme

Quat"rain (?), n. [F., fr. quatre four, L. quattuor, quatuor. See Four.] Pros.

A stanza of four lines rhyming alternately.

Dryden.

© Webster 1913.