fixed forms

fixed forms, the general term covering the various kinds of poem in which the metre and rhyme scheme are governed by a prescribed pattern. The term usually refers to a class of medieval French verse‐forms including the ballade, chant royal, rondeau, sestina, triolet, and villanelle; but there are some other fixed poetic forms, the most significant being the sonnet, the haiku, and the limerick. Various established stanza forms such as ottava rima and rhyme royal may also be considered as ‘fixed’.