Stanza

Stanza is a group of lines of poetry forming a unit (a related group of lines in a poem or a song).

Stanza could be characterized by another term strophe. Acorrding to Merriam-Webster,  it is a division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually recurring pattern of meter and rhyme.

Stanzas are separated by gaps.

There is no limited number of lines in a stanza. However, stanzas differ according to the criteria, a meter (typical meter in English poetry is iambic pentameter used by Shakespeare) and the rhyme scheme.

 Stanza with two lines that rhyme is called couplet.

"But if thou live, remember'd not to be,
Die single, and thine image dies with thee."
- “Sonnet III,” William Shakespeare

For example, this is one stanza from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare with iambic pentameter:

"Two households, both alike in dignity,

 In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean."

List of references:

Stanza | English Meaning - Cambridge Dictionary, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stanza. Accessed 17 Sept. 2024.

“Stanza Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stanza. Accessed 17 Sept. 2024.

“Stanza Examples in Poetry.” YourDictionary, YOURDICTIONARY, www.yourdictionary.com/articles/examples-stanza-poetry. Accessed 17 Sept. 2024.

This entry was made by Tereza Müllerová.