James Fenton

This is what rhyme does. In a couplet, the first rhyme is like a question to which the second rhyme is an answer. The first rhyme leaves something in the air, some unanswered business. In most quatrains, space is created between the rhyme that poses the question and the rhyme that gives the answer - it is like a pleasure deferred.

British Poet

At four lines, with the quatrain, we reach the basic stanza form familiar from a whole range of English poetic practice. This is the length of the ballad stanza, the verse of a hymn, and innumerable other kinds of verse.

Julien Baker

Many of my songs just come together in quatrains because that's how a hymn goes.

American Musician

Quatrains often follow a rhyme scheme such as ABAB where the first and third lines rhyme, and so do the second and fourth.

Rhyme Scheme

Quatrains can have varied rhythms, typically following stressed and unstressed syllables.

Rhythmic Patterns

Quatrains are used in many famous poetic forms, including sonnets and ballads.