"Octave" is the general term for a poem of eight lines, or an eight-line stanza of a longer poem. Octave can also refer to a more specific form of eight-line stanza following a rhyme scheme of a. a. b. b. c. c. d. d.
An example of another specific subset of the octave form includes common or "hymnal" octave, with a rhyme scheme of a. b. c. b. a. b. c. b., iambic tetrameter on a. lines and iambic trimeter on b. lines.
The octave is most commonly associated with the sonnet form of poetry, but it appears frequently in a variety of rhymed and free verse.
