envelope

envelope, in poetry, a device in which a line or a stanza is repeated so as to enclose a section of verse, as in Sir Thomas Wyatt’s “Is it Possible?”:

Is it possible
That so high debate,
So sharp, so sore, and of such rate,
Should end so soon and was begun so late?
Is it possible?
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
Citation Information
Article Title: envelope
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 09 February 2007
Access Date: March 04, 2025