Enclosed rhyme (or enclosing rhyme) is the rhyme scheme ABBA (that is, where the first and fourth lines, and the second and third lines rhyme). Enclosed-rhyme quatrains are used in introverted quatrains, as in the first two stanzas of Petrarchan sonnets.
| How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, | A | ||
| Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year! | B | ||
| My hasting days fly on with full career | B | ||
| But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. | A |
(From John Milton: "Sonnet VII")[1]
"Exposure", by Wilfred Owen,[2] also has an example of enclosed rhyme. Each of the eight stanzas have the ABBA half rhyming sequence:
| Our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that us ... | A | |
| Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent ... | B | |
| Low, drooping flares confuse our memories of the salient ... | B | |
| Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, | A | |
| But nothing happens. |