Stanzas
A Stanza consists of two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme and are used like paragraphs in a story. Some different types of stanzas are as follows:
Couplets - Couplets are stanzas of only two lines which usually rhyme
Tercets - Tercets are stanzas of three lines. The three lines may or may not have the same end rhyme. If all three lines rhyme, this type of tercet is called a triplet.
Quatrains - Quatrains are stanzas of four lines which can be written in any rhyme scheme.
Simply put, a stanza is to poetry what a paragraph is to an essay
The following poem has 6 stanzas.
The first 5 are tercets (3 line stanza)
Do not go Gentle into that Good Night
by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
With the exception of the last stanza, this poem provides a good example of Tercet Stanzas.
Tercets are stanzas of three lines. The three lines may or may not have the same end rhyme. If all three lines rhyme, this type of tercet is called a triplet.