The
Spenserian stanza is nine lines long, eight of which are
iambic pentameter, and the last is
iambic hexameter. The
rhyming pattern is a b a b b c b c c.
But on his brest a bloudie Crosse he bore,
The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,
For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead as liuing euer him ador'd:
Vpon his shield the like was also scor'd,
For soueraine hope, which in his helpe he had:
Right faithfull true he ws in deede and word,
But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad,
Yet nothing did he dread, but euer was ydrad.
-Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, Canto I.