Stanzaic Forms

What is stanza?

·         Stanza is patterns of rhyme are organized into verse paragraph, or blocks of lines. 

·         A stanza is a group of lines and therefore a recognizable unit in a poem.

Kind of Stanza .!

1.      Couplet

·   The stanza composed two lines which usually rhyme

·   One line coupled to another

e.g

A man so various, that heroic he seem’d to be

Not one, but all mankind’s epitome :

2.      Triplet

·   The stanza composed of three lines, usually with one repeated rhyme, usually with one repeated rhyme

·   Rhyme scheme of aaa.

e.g.

Whenas in silks my Julia goes

Then, then (methink) how sweetly flows

That liquefaction of her chlotes.

3.      Quatrain

·   The stanza composed of four lines, either rhyming or not rhyming

e. g

My love is o a birth as rare

As ‘tis’ for object strange and high

It was begotten by despair

Upon impossibility

4.      Sestet

·  The stanza composed of six lines

·  The most common rhyme-scheme a sestet is abcabc

e.g. (In last lines of Milton’s sonnet.)

         That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need

         Either man’s work or his own gifts, who best

         Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best;

         His state is kingly Thousand at his building speed

         And post o’er land and ocean without rest:

        They also serve who only stand and wait.

5.      Rhyme Royal

·   The stanza composed of seven lines written in iambic pentameter and rhyming ababbcc

e.g.

Time is concept quite beyond my ken

String theory baffles brilliant folks and me

I ill not wax philoshopic then again

Perhaps I did already, shame on me.

Time keeps everything in order you see.

For flies who’s life-cycle completes in one day,

Men and boys would be distinct I would say.

6.      Octave

·   The stanza composed of eight lines;specifically, an octave is the name given to the first eight lines of a sonnet, the last six being a sestet.

7.      Sonnet

         There are two sonnet, are

a.                       The Italian Sonnet (petrarchan)

·         The Italian sonnet is divided into an octave and a sestet.

·         The  octave rhymes abba, abba;

·         The sestet, cde, cde or variations thereof like cd, cd, cd.

b.                       The English Sonnet (Shakespearian)

·   Usually written in three quatrains and a couplet (abab, cdcd, efef, gg)

·  The English sonnet may present three arguments concerned with its theme in three quatrains --- their  rhyme scheme allows this independent treatment, each quatrain rhymes internally --- and  draw a conclusion in the couplet.

8.      Spenserian Stanza

·   The stanza composed of nine lines

·  The first eight of which are written in iambic pentameter

·  The ninth line is written in iambic hexameter

·   The stanza rhyme ababbcbcc

e.g.

Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske

As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds,

Am now enforst a far unfitter taske,

For trumpets sterne to change mine Oaten reeds,

And sing of Knight and Ladies gentle deeds;

Whose praises hauing slept in silence long,

Me, all to meane, the sacred Muse areeds

To blazon broad emongst her learned throng;

Fierce warres and faithfull loues shall moralize my song.

9.      Ottava Rima

·                     The stanza composed of eight lines

·                     The rhyming abababcc

·                     Written in iambic pentameter

e.g.

But words are things, and a small drop of ink

Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces

That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think;

Tis strange, the shortest letter which man uses.

Instead of speech, may form a lasting link

Of ages;to what straits old Time reduces

Frail man, when paper --- even a rag like this,

Survives himself, his tomb, and all that’s his.

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