Rispetto
DEFINITION
A form of Italian poetry that is set into very strict stanzas of eight hendecasyllabic lines (or eight lines with eleven syllables). This form of poetry was also known as ottava rima. These stanzas were set to music by composers of the frottola and 16th-century madrigal and later, the Strambotto. The name rispetto was taken from the purpose of the poetry with the poet paying his respects to his lady love and was typically one stanza, but it was not uncommon to have more.