How to Describe Stanzas in Poetry
Definition of Stanzas
Structured groups of lines in a poem are known as stanzas. Some people might refer to a stanza as a verse. This is particularly appropriate when the piece of poetry is a song such as a hymn, which may also contain a chorus or refrain, a series of lines that are repeated between each of the stanzas or verses. As a side note, many older traditional ballads and songs had refrains such as With a hey nonny nonny no. While that may seem silly, it should be remembered that the refrain was usually sung between stanzas and allowed the musician a place to return to the top line of the accompaniment. Modern versions of such refrains are found in older rock and roll or popular music pieces, also. Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do or Sham-a-lang- a-ding-dong or No woman no cry are examples.
How to Describe Stanzas in Poetry
Stanzas may be named for the number of lines they contain.
Couplet
A couplet contains two lines. The last word of the two lines generally rhyme. Taken by themselves, the following lines from Robert Browning’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin form a rhyming couplet.
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives — Followed the Piper for their lives.
Quatrain
A quatrain consists of four lines, usually drawn together by some form of end rhyme. The following stanza from Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky illustrates the quatrain.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
Sestet
A sestet consists of six lines. This particular form of a stanza is found in the Petrarchan or Italian Sonnet. The key to recognizing this stanza type is that there are six lines drawn together with some form of end rhyme.
Octave
An Octave consists of eight lines. Similarly to the sestet (above) this stanza type, too, is most often found in the Petrarchan or Italian Sonnet, which is discussed in detail, below.
Naming poetry according to the length of the lines
In discussing poetry, two-part names may be assigned to various line configurations.
The first of the two names will indicate the type of metric foot: iambic, trochaic, anapestic or dactylic. Each of these names for metric feet indicates a different pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. These patterns are discussed in the next section.
The second name indicates the length of the line in terms of the number of feet it contains. Each of these names starts with a different prefix which indicates the number of feet in a line. These names are shown in the table below:
Names of Feet
|
Meter Name |
Foot Name |
Pattern in Syllables _ unstressed/stressed syllable pattern |
|
Iambic |
Iamb |
one unstressed, one stressed The brain/ is wid/er than/ the sky/ |
|
Trochaic |
Trochee |
one stressed, one unstressed Will aim/ Yeats is/ laid to/ rest |
|
Anapestic |
Anapest |
two unstressed, one stressed And the peak/ of the moun/ tain was ap/ ples, the hug/ est that e/ ver were seen |
|
Dactylic |
Dactyl |
one stressed, two unstressed Af ter the/ pangs of a/ des perate |
Names of Line Lengths
|
Name of Line Length |
Number of Feet in the Line |
|
|
mono |
-meter |
one foot of any meter |
|
di |
-meter |
two feet feet of any meter |
|
tri |
-meter |
three feet of any meter |
|
tetra |
-meter |
four feet of any meter |
|
penta |
-meter |
five feet of any meter |
|
hexa |
-meter |
six feet of any meter |
|
hepta |
-meter |
seven feet of any meter |
The combination of the two names (the foot name and the line length name) makes more sense with some illustrative examples. In each of the examples, below, the stressed syllables have been italicized and the end of each foot is marked with a forward slash (/).
iambic monometer – Lines of one foot in length are very rare occurrences, although one poet did write -
Thus I/
Passe by/
And die/
dactylic dimeter – Two-foot lines are not much more common, but these will illustrate their possibility:
Can non to/ right of them/ iambic trimeter is slightly more common.
A lone/ he rides/ a lone/
The fair/ and fa/ tal king/
iambic tetrameter – This line length has been around for some time as this Middle English line demonstrates.
Al of/ a knyght/ was fair/ and gent/ In ba/ taille and/ in tour/ na ment/ dactylic tetrameter
Af ter the/ pangs of a/ des perate/ lo ver anapestic tetrameter"
Of my dar/ ling — my dar/ ling — my life/ and my bride/
iambic pentameter is the most common speech pattern in the English language. It seems to imitate the natural cadence or rhythms of our language. Most of Shakespeare’s work is written in iambic pentameter.
When I/ have fears/ that I/ may cease/ to be/
The above examples will be an invaluable reference to understanding meter and scansion (the practice of sorting out the number of syllables and feet in a line of poetry). You may have noted that not all the feet in the examples above are complete. Don’t let that be a problem: the overall patterns should be the focus.
As a final note, when trying to determine whether a line of poetry has iambic, trochaic, anapestic or dactylic feet, tapping out the rhythm as you read aloud is a good strategy.