E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Spenserian Metre (The).
The metre in which Spenser’s Faërie Queene is written. It is a stanza of nine iambic lines, all of ten syllables except the last, which is an Alexandrine. Only three different rhymes are admitted into a stanza, and these rhymes are thus disposed: Lines 1 and 3 rhyme; lines 2, 4, 5, 7 rhyme; lines 6, 8, 9 rhyme; thus:—
