It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Ottava rima. (Discuss)

For other uses of the word octave see Octave (disambiguation)

The Sicilian octave is a verse form consisting of eight lines of eleven syllables each, called a hendecasyllable. The form is common in late medieval Italian poetry; in Italian it is called either ottava siciliana or ottava napoletana (Neapolitan octave). In English poetry iambic pentameter is often used instead of syllabics. The form has a prescribed rhyme scheme of four rhymed couplets, or ABABABAB. According to the Princeton Encylopedia, scholars disagree on the origin of the Sicilian octave, but all agree that it is related to the development of the first eight lines of the sonnet (called the octave). It is not clear whether the octave emerged first and influence the sonnet or vice versa. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... It has been suggested that Sicilian octave be merged into this article or section. ... Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Hendecasyllable verse (in Italian endecasillabo) is a kind of verse used mostly in Italian poetry, defined by its having the last stress on the tenth syllable. ... Location within Italy Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Napule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region. ... William Shakespeare is regarded as one of the greatest English poets ever. ... Iambic pentameter is a meter in poetry, consisting of lines with five feet (hence pentameter) in which the iamb is the dominant foot (hence Iambic). Iambic rhythms are quite easy to write in English and iambic pentameter is among the most common metrical forms in English poetry. ... A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming lines in a poem. ... A couplet is a pair of lines of verse that form a unit. ... Francesco Petrarca or Petrarch, one of the best-known of the early Italian sonnet writers The term sonnet is derived from the Provençal word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning little song. ...

The Sicilian octave is quite rare compared to the ottava rima (which evolved separately but is similar except for the last two lines), which was popularized by Boccaccio in Italian and by Byron in English. Before the 15th century, however, it was used often, and was an important influence for Petrarch in his sonnets. Boccaccio used the Sicilian octave a total of once, in his early romance Filocolo. The epitaph of Giulia Topazia is a Sicilian octave: It has been suggested that Sicilian octave be merged into this article or section. ... Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (June 16, 1313 – December 21, 1375) was a Italian author and poet, the greatest of Petrarchs disciples, an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including On Famous Women, the Decameron and his poems in the vernacular. ... Lord Byron, English poet George Gordon (Noel) Byron, 6th Baron Byron (January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824), English Romantic poet, was the most renowned English-language poet of his day. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... From the c. ... As a literary genre, romance refers to a style of heroic prose and verse narrative current in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. ...

Qui, d'Atropos il colpo ricevuto,

giace di Roma Giulia Topazia,

dell'alto sangue di Cesare arguto

discesa, bella e piena d'ogni grazia,

che, in parto, abbandonati in non dovuto

modo ci ha: onde non fia giá mai sazia

l'anima nostra il suo non conosciuto

Dio biasimar che fè sí gran fallazia.

References

• The New Princeton Encylopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Ed. Alex Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan. Princeton UP, 1993.
• Ernest H. Wilkins. "Boccaccio's First Octave." Italica, Vol. 33, No. 1. (Mar., 1956), p. 19.