Chain rhyme is the linking together of stanza

Stanza

In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...

s by carrying a rhyme

Rhyme

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...

 over from one stanza to the next.

A number of verse forms use chain rhyme as an integral part of their structures. One example is terza rima

Terza rima

Terza rima is a rhyming verse stanza form that consists of an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme. It was first used by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri.-Form:Terza rima is a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D...

, which is written in tercet

Tercet

A tercet is composed of three lines of poetry, forming a stanza or a complete poem. English-language haiku is an example of an unrhymed tercet poem...

s with a rhyming pattern a-b-a, b-c-b, c-d-c. Another is the virelai ancien

Virelai ancien

The virelai ancien is a poetic form originating in France in the Middle Ages. It uses a tercet of two long lines and one short line rhyming a-a-b to build stanzas. Each stanza can have any number of tercets...

, which rhymes a-a-b-a-a-b, b-b-c-b-b-c, c-c-d-c-c-d.

Other verse forms may also use chain rhyme. For instance, quatrain

Quatrain

A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...

s can be written to the following pattern: a-a-b-a, b-b-c-b, c-c-d-c.

There are a few well-known examples of chain rhyme in world literature. In the Persian language

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

, chain rhyme is almost exclusively devoted to the poetic form of the Rubaiyat

Rubaiyat

"Rubāʿī" is Arabic for "quatrain", and is used to describe a Persian quatrain, or its derivative form in English and other languages. The plural form of the word, rubāʿiyāt ,often anglicised rubaiyat , is used to describe a collection of such quatrains.There are a number of possible rhyme schemes...

: a poem that makes use of quatrains with the rhyme scheme AABA. Though not necessarily chain rhyme, the Rubiyat form has been mimicked throughout the world. Robert Frost

Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...

 made use of Rubaiyat in chain rhyme form in his poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem written in 1922 by Robert Frost, and published in 1923 in his New Hampshire volume. Imagery and personification are prominent in the work...

."