Poetic form

What is a Quatrain?

Definition

A quatrain is a four-line stanza or poem — the most common building block in English-language verse.

If English poetry has a brick, it's the quatrain: four lines, usually rhymed, sturdy enough to build hymns, ballads, and pop choruses for seven centuries. The major schemes each have a personality. ABAB alternates and flows; AABB snaps shut twice; ABCB — the ballad stanza, often in 'common meter' of alternating four- and three-beat lines — is the people's quatrain, needing only one rhyme, which is why Dickinson and every hymnal lean on it.

Then there's AABA, the Rubaiyat stanza, which Edward FitzGerald used for his Omar Khayyám translations: the unrhymed third line hangs in the air like an unanswered question. Robert Frost chained those hanging lines together in 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,' letting each stanza's odd line out become the next stanza's rhyme. Four lines turn out to be exactly enough room for a complete thought: setup, development, turn, close.

Structure of a quatrain

Four lines, as a stanza or a complete poem
Common schemes: ABAB (alternating), AABB (paired couplets), ABCB (ballad), AABA (Rubaiyat)
Ballad stanza pairs ABCB with alternating 4- and 3-beat lines — common meter
Four lines fit one complete thought: setup, development, turn, close

How to write a quatrain

Pick the scheme to match the job: ABAB flows, AABB snaps, ABCB sings, AABA haunts.
Give each quatrain one complete thought — stanzas are paragraphs with a pulse.
In ABCB, spend your single rhyme well: lines 2 and 4 carry the music alone.
Try chaining AABA stanzas Frost-style: each stanza's unrhymed third line seeds the next stanza's rhyme.

19 quatrain examples

Classic and original quatrain poems, free to read in full.

Roses Are Red (And Violets Aren't Blue)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, violets are — no.Violets are violet. I checked. It's so.This poem's been fibbing since 1784,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (Pizza Edition)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, marinara is too;I ordered a large just to split it with you.Some people want sonnets, the moon, or the weather —

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (The Wifi Is Down)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, the wifi is dead,the router's unplugged at the foot of the bed.No streaming, no scrolling, no feed to refresh —

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (Yes, It's Another One of These)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, this format is tired,I had until midnight; a poem was required.But cliché or not, every word here is true:

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (For Her, Who Hates Mornings)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, the kettle is on,you're grumpy and gorgeous each day before dawn;and I'd give up sunrises, gladly, forever,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (But They Fade in a Day)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, but they fade in a day;the chocolates get eaten, the cards thrown away.So here is the one gift that time won't undo:

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (For the One Who Steals the Blankets)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, my feet are like ice,you've stolen the duvet — not once, dear, but twice;yet I'd shiver forever, frostbitten and blue,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (For the Man Who Fixes Things)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red. The stair doesn't squeak,the door doesn't stick — you fixed both this week.Some men declare love with a speech or a song;

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (His Hand Finds Mine)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, your hand finds my handin crowds, in the car, without thought, without plan;and that, more than roses, is how I stay sure:

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (You're Hopeless at Dancing)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, you're hopeless at dancing,but somehow you're great at this whole romancing:you remember my coffee, my mother, my dreams —

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (The Dog Ate My First Draft)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, violets are blue,my hamster can't read, so this poem's for you.I wrote it in marker, I spelled it all right,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (Broccoli's Green)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, broccoli's green,and I have a question (don't shout, don't be mean):if flowers are plants, and my veggies are too,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (A Toast in Eight Lines)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, the aisle has been walked,the rings have been fumbled, the toasts have been talked;now comes the part that the cameras won't see:

8 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (I Would Still Pick You)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, as they were at the start,when I practiced your name and rehearsed every part;the petals have changed, but the question stays true:

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (A Toast to My Worst Best Friend)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, your advice is the worst,you laugh at my downfalls (and always laugh first);but when it all crumbled, you showed up by nine

4 lines · roses are red

Home Is a Person

The QuillOak Editors

They say that home's an address,a roof, a key, a floor —so why does any room feel home

4 lines · quatrain

A Birthday Blessing

The QuillOak Editors

May your coffee stay hot, may your phone hold its charge,may small luck find you daily and big luck loom large;may the year rolling toward you arrive like a friend —

4 lines · quatrain

One More Year of We

The QuillOak Editors

One more year of "where's my keys?",of "taste this," and "come see" —one more year I'd trade for nothing:

4 lines · quatrain

On Tomorrow

The QuillOak Editors

There's nothing I can't conquer,no summit I can't claim,no task I cannot master —

4 lines · epigram

Common questions

What is a quatrain?

A four-line stanza or poem, usually rhymed — the most common unit of English verse, from hymns to Dickinson to song choruses.

What rhyme scheme does a quatrain use?

Any of several: ABAB, AABB, ABCB (the ballad stanza), or AABA (the Rubaiyat stanza). ABCB is the most forgiving, since it needs only one rhyme.