canzone

Form of poetry used principally for love lyrics, though occasionally used for other subjects. The earliest examples date from the 12th century. The number of stanzas was generally five or six, but they sometimes varied, and the last stanza was often shorter than the others.

In Provençal canzones the same set of rhymes went through all the stanzas, but in Italian canzones a fresh set of rhymes was introduced for each stanza. Dante, Petrarch, Tasso, and Leopardi all wrote this form of poetry.