fourline

Fourline is a term that can refer to a stanza composed of four lines of verse. In literary discussion, it is often used as a casual or descriptive label for a four-line unit, and is closely related to the more formal term quatrain, which denotes a four-line stanza in many poetic traditions.

The word itself is a straightforward compound of four and line. It does not have a single, universally adopted technical definition, and its use tends to vary by author or editor. When used, it typically signals a concise, four-line length rather than a specific meter or rhyme pattern.

In poetry, a fourline stanza may adopt a variety of rhyme schemes, including AABB, ABAB, or be written in free verse with precisely four lines. Some literary traditions preserve notable four-line forms, such as the jueju in classical Chinese poetry, where each line has a fixed number of characters and the entire poem is restricted to four lines.

Beyond poetry, the term can appear in discussions of text layout or formatting to describe content organized into four lines, such as short epigrams, captions, or verse blocks in digital text. As a generic descriptor, fourline is not a formal genre or standard, but rather a flexible label used to communicate length and structure.

See also: quatrain, four-line stanza, verse form.