An elegiac stanza is a four-line stanza built in iambic pentameter and usually rhymed abab. Despite the name, it is not limited to poems about grief; poets use it for reflective, serious, or meditative subjects. The form is often associated with a calm, balanced movement that suits thoughtful verse.
A quatrain written in iambic pentameters and rhyming a-b-a-b.
Example
The dusk moved slowly over field and stone,
The last red light dissolved beyond the hill;
I walked the lane and heard my footsteps lone,
While evening held the world in silence still.