Poetic Form
Ottava Rima
From Italian: eighth rhyme. Introduced to English by Wyatt; Byron discovered its comic potential — the closing couplet punctures the preceding six lines.
Definition
An eight-line stanza rhyming ABABABCC in iambic pentameter, originating in Italian Renaissance epic.
Example
Ariosto's Orlando Furioso; Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered; Byron's Don Juan uses it for comic deflation.