Edmund Spenser invented the Spenserian stanza for his allegorical epic poem The Faerie Queene. The rhyme scheme of the this nine-line stanza is ababbcbcc. The meter is iambic pentameter, except for the final line of each stanza, which is in iambic hexameter or alexandrine. The stanza is relatively close to the ottava rima used by Spenser's Italian models, which employs the rhyme scheme abababcc.

While the Spenserian stanza is substantial enough for epic, allowing for description and digression, the rhyme scheme has an insistent quality, propelling the reader toward the end. This is achieved mainly by the use of the interlocking b rhymes, which span the stanza from second place to seventh. A concluding flourish is then achieved with a final rhyming couplet, as in both ottava rima and the Shakespearean sonnet. It is notable that Spenser, unlike the early English sonneteers, adapted his Italian model without allowing the opportunity for more rhymes.