The seven-line stanza with the rhyme scheme ABABBCC is called rime royal, also commonly spelled rhyme royal. The form normally uses seven lines of iambic pentameter, although poets have varied its meter and arrangement.
The stanza was introduced into English poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer and became especially influential during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Its four rhymes create a distinctive progression: the opening quatrain establishes the main pattern, while the final three lines move toward a closing couplet. That structure gives rime royal room for narrative development and a firm sense of resolution.
The form appears in works by several major poets, including Sir Thomas Wyatt and William Shakespeare, who used it in The Rape of Lucrece. A common mix-up is the Spenserian stanza: Edmund Spenser adapted elements of rime royal but expanded the pattern to ABABBCBCC, adding a ninth line and usually an alexandrine ending. Terza rima has three-line interlocking units, while ottava rima has eight lines, so neither matches the seven-line ABABBCC pattern.