What is a structure in poetry?
The term structure refers to the arrangement of related parts to form a complex entity. In poetry, the term structure refers to the way a poem is presented to the reader. Part of the structure in poetry includes the organisation and the length of the lines, stanzas, location of the punctuation and even the shape assumed by all these elements while written.
The structure of a poem involves the external features of a poem that help the reader to understand its meaning. These features include:
Features of structure in poetry
Lines
Poems are usually organised into lines: an equivalent of sentences in prose writing. However, lines differ from sentences in that they are arranged based on a series of metrical feet, not relatedness. A line of a poem is usually printed on a single line on a page. Where a line of a poem occupies more than one line, an indent is used to show a continuation.
Poems are written in verse form that is guided by various conventions that determine the length and the number of lines in a poem. Most traditional verse forms adhere to these conventions. However, modern poetry is more liberalised and have the freedom of choice to create free verse poems (poems that do not follow line length rules). In free verse poems, the poet uses poetic license to express his/ her ideas without being bound by conventions.
Enjambment
Also known as a run on line, and enjambment is where an idea is expressed continuously in more than one line. For Example:
Tonight
in the beggar
I saw the whole of my country.
This is the first stanza of the poem “The Analogy” by Bahadur Tejani. The stanza is made up of one sentence that spans several lines in length expressing a single idea. Placing a full stop at the end of any line apart from the last line will make other sentences have a different or no meaning.
Sometimes enjambment is done with the title of the poem making the title to become the first line of the poem. In the poem discussed above, the lines are not marked by any punctuation marks but they are broken down so that the idea is understood after reading the corresponding lines.
Stanzas
A stanza in a poem is created by arranging several lines into a unit similar to a paragraph in prose writing. These units, called stanzas, are repeated in the same pattern throughout the poem using the same pattern of meter and rhyme. A blank line between stanzas is used to separate the stanzas in a poem.
At your feet by Musamura Bonas Zimunya
We die
all tears and blood
pain and grief and ghosts,
Mighty one,
We the poor
the dispossessed
the peaceless
the fear-smitten
unfreed slaves,
We die at your feet.
Note: Stanzas in modern poetry do not have lines with the same length and meter. Such poems are called free verse. Lines in the Stanzas o free verse are grouped based on their meaning just like paragraphs in prose writing. Stanzas in free verse poems also do not have equal lines sometimes.
Stanza forms in Poetry
Stanza Forms are the names were given to describe the number of lines in a stanzaic unit, such as couplet (2), tercet (3), quatrain (4), quintet (5), sestet (6), septet (7), and octave (8).
Some common regular lines stanzas in poetry are:
Couplet – has two lines in each stanza
Triplet (Tercet) – has three lines stanza
Quatrain – has four lines stanza
Quintet – has five lines in every stanza
Sestet (Sextet) – has six lines stanza
Septet – has seven lines in a stanza
Octave – has eight lines stanza
Stanza Forms: The names given to describe the number of lines in a stanzaic unit, such as:
couplet (2), tercet (3), quatrain (4), quintet (5), sestet (6), septet (7), and octave (8).