EVERYTHING ABOUT STANZA

WHAT IS A STANZA IN POETRY?

A stanza is a series of lines grouped together in order to divide a poem; the structure of a stanza is often (though not always) repeated throughout the poem. Stanzas are separated from other stanzas by line breaks. 

What Purpose Do Stanzas Serve in Poetry?

In Italian, the word “stanza” means “room.” Stanzas, then function in a poem like rooms function in a house. Acclaimed poet and former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins says: “You’re taking the reader on a tour of the poem, room by room, like taking someone through your house and describing it.” In this way, stanzas can be particularly revealing: the structure of a poem’s stanzas says a lot about the poem, just as the rooms in a house say a lot about the house.

A stanza can reveal the following about a poem:

• Structure. A poem always has a structural framework in place. Stanzas are part of a poem’s architecture. 
• Pattern. In formal verse poetry, in which the poem follows a rhyme scheme and meter, the first stanza sets the pattern for the overall poem. The rhyme and rhythm used will repeat in the second stanza, and so on. 
• Organization. Often, the lines of a stanza explore a thought. As the poet moves onto the next thought, they might progress to a new stanza. 
• Set a mood. A break in between stanzas may signal a shift in mood or emotional tone. 
• Shape. The space around and between stanzas (or lack thereof), and the pattern they create on the page, defines the shape of a poem.

What Are the Different Types of Stanza?

Stanzas, like poems, come in all shapes and sizes. There are many different types and they are often classified by meters, rhyme schemes or how many groups of lines they have. Here are some different types of stanzas.

• Monostich. A one-line stanza. Monostich can also be an entire poem. 

• Couplet. A stanza with two lines that rhyme. 

• Tercet. A stanza with three lines that either all rhyme or the first and the third line rhyme—which is called an ABA rhyming pattern. A poem made up of tercets and concludes with a couplet is called a “terza rima.” 

• Quatrain. A stanza with four lines with the second and fourth lines rhyming. 

• Quintain. A stanza with five lines. 

• Sestet. A stanza with six lines. 

• Septet. A stanza with seven lines. This is sometimes called a “rhyme royal.” 

• Octave. A stanza with eight lines written in iambic pentameter, or ten syllable beats per line. The more lines a stanza has the more varieties of rhyme and meter patterns. For example, “ottava rima” is an eight-line stanza with the specific rhyme scheme in which the first six lines have an alternating rhyme pattern and a couplet as the final two lines. 

• Isometric stanza. Isometric stanzas have the same syllabic beats, or the same meter, in every line. 

• Heterometric stanza. A stanza in which every line is a different length. 

• Spenserian stanza. Named after Edward Spenser’s unique stanza structure in his poem “The Faerie Queene.” A Spenserian stanza has nine line, eight in iambic pentameter—ten syllables in a line with emphasis on the second beat of each syllable—and a final line in iambic hexameter—a twelve-syllable beat line. 

• Ballad stanza. Often used in folk songs, a ballad stanza is a rhyming quatrain with four emphasized beats (eight syllables) in the first and third lines, and three emphasized beats (six syllables) in the second and fourth lines.