Verse form consisting of tercets, or three-line stanzas, in which the second line of each rhymes with the first and third lines of the next. The series ends with a separate line that rhymes with the second line of the last stanza, so that the rhyme scheme is aba, bcb, cdc, elipsis, yzy, z. Dante, in The Divine Comedy (circa 1310–14), was the first to use terza rima in a long poem. A demanding form, it has not been widely adopted in languages less rich in rhymes than Italian. It was introduced into England by Sir Thomas Wyatt in the 16th century. Poets who have experimented with terza rima include Percy B. Shelley, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and W.H. Auden; Derek Walcott's book-length Omeros is written in modified terza rima.

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Italian stanza form composed of eight 11-syllable lines, rhyming abababcc. It originated in the late 13th and early 14th centuries and was established by Giovanni Boccaccio as the standard form for Italian epic and narrative verse. When the form appeared in English, the lines were shortened to 10 syllables. In the 17th–18th century, English ottava rima was written in iambic pentameter and used for heroic poetry. Notably effective in Lord Byron's Beppo (1818) and Don Juan (1819–24), it was also used by Edmund Spenser, John Milton, John Keats, Percy B. Shelley, Robert Browning, and William Butler Yeats.

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Rima, also known as Rima the Jungle Girl, is a fictional character, a heroine of Victorian literature who was adapted as the star of short-lived comic book series Rima the Jungle Girl, published by DC Comics in 1974 and 1975.

Publication history

Like her literary cousins Tarzan and Mowgli, Rima sprang from a Victorian adventure novel, in her case Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest, published in 1904. The Argentine-British writer W. H. Hudson was a naturalist who wrote many classic books about the ecology of South America. Hudson based Rima on a persistent South American legend about a lost tribe of white people who lived in the mountains.

Rima starred in a seven-issue comic book series, DC Comics' Rima the Jungle Girl (May 1974 - May 1975), adapted by an uncredited writer and with artwork by penciler-inker Nestor Redondo and covers by Joe Kubert. DC writer-editor Robert Kanigher is the credited writer from issue #5 on.

Fictional character biography

Although the DC character is a fully-grown and powerful woman with ash blonde hair, in the novel Rima the Bird Girl was 17, small (4' 6"), demure, and dark-haired. Natives avoided her forest, calling her "the Daughter of the Didi" (an evil spirit), but Rima's only defense is a reputation for magic, earned through the display of strange talents such as talking to birds, befriending animals, and plucking poison darts from the air.

In other media

Literature

Green Mansions

Rima originated in the 1904 novel Green Mansions by W. H. Hudson .

Rima was also mentioned in Ray Bradbury's short story, The Veldt.

Film

Green Mansions

Actor and director Mel Ferrer adapted Green Mansions into a 1959 film for MGM Studios, starring Audrey Hepburn as Rima. The adaptation deviated far from the novel.

Other comic books

Classics Illustrated #90: Green Mansions

Classics Illustrated published a short adaptation from the novel, with direct quotes. In this adaptation Rima is blond. (Copyright December 1951 Gilberton Company).

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Rima is mentioned, but not seen, in America's Best Comics' The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 2, #3 (2003), by writer Alan Moore and artists Kevin O'Neill and Ben Dimagmaliw: "...it is near here that the world-famous 'bird girl' Riolama or Rima was discovered..."

Television

The All-New Super Friends Hour

Rima the Jungle Girl appeared in three episodes of Hanna-Barbera's The All-New Super Friends Hour during the 1977-78 season, alongside such mainstays as Aquaman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.

Fire

First aired: Saturday October 1, 1977; ABC (8 minutes) Batman, Robin, and Rima the Jungle Girl contend with a spreading forest fire, and have to search for a pair of escaped prisoners who have stolen a forestry truck filled with dynamite. Rima's main contribution is to call upon a nearby bear to push down some trees for an emergency bridge across a wide gap.

River Of Doom

First aired: Friday November 4, 1977; ABC (8 minutes) Wonder Woman and Rima the Jungle Girl search for archaeologists who have accidentally stumbled onto a burial ground of angry natives. The archaeologists are captured and sentenced to death on the River of Doom. The superheroines rescue the scientists while Rima summons alligators to attack their pursuers' canoes.

Return Of Atlantis

First aired: Saturday October 25, 1980; ABC (7 Minutes) Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Rima. Aquaman is captured by Queen Ocina when the lost city of Atlantis rises from the sea. Ocina plans to conquer the world with her female warriors, but Wonder Woman and Rima gather the Amazons of Paradise Island to stop her. Note: In breach of both DC Comics' and the Super Friends TV show's continuities, this "Atlantis" is not the kingdom over which Aquaman reigns.

Other

Pennsylvania Kensington Gardens, adjacent to London's Hyde Park, has a statue of Rima the Bird Girl sculpted by Jacob Epstein, erected in 1925. Image of Rima statue (site in Italian)

References

• 30th Century Comics article, by Ramon Schenk
• Grand Comics Database: Rima the Jungle Girl (DC Comics)

External links

• Fantastic Victoriana: R
• Full Text of the Novel: Green Mansions
• Return of Atlantis on You Tube