Types of stanza in a poem

Within the studies related to Hispanic metric, It is known by the name of stanza to the set of followed verses that form a single fixed unit, configured by a determined rhyme and rhythm. The Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (DRAE) defines the stanza as "each one of the parts composed of the same number of verses and ordered in the same way that some poetic compositions consist of".

All the stanzas follow the same classification criteria, which starts from the number of verses that each one of them contains and are easily recognizable when reading a poem because they are separated by spaces. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will explain what are the types of stanza in a poem.

Stanzas containing only two verses are called couplets. A couplet is a stanza made up of two verses, which can be both minor art (with less than eight syllables) or major art (with eight syllables or more).

The rhyme that appears in couplets can be either consonant (in which both vowel and consonant sounds rhyme), or assonance (in which only vowel sounds rhyme). An example of a couplet would be the following by Federico García Lorca:

Before a broken window / I sew my lyrical clothes.

The three-line stanzas are called triplets. A triplet is a stanza composed of three verses, generally of major art (the vast majority of triplets are usually made up of hendecasyllables) and with consonant rhyme. An example of a triplet is the following, also by Federico García Lorca:

But I suffered you. I tore my veins / Tiger and dove on your waist / In a duel of bites and lilies.

In this other lesson we will discover the rhyme classes in a poem.

The stanzas of four lines are called quartets. The quartets are divided into different subgroups, which are as follows:

• Round: quartet composed of four verses of minor art and consonant rhyme (8a 8b 8b 8a).
• Serventesio: quartet formed by four verses of major art and consonant rhyme (11A 11B 11A 11B).
• Quatrain: quartet of four verses of minor art and consonant rhyme (8a 8b 8a 8b).
• Sash: quartet formed from four Alexandrian verses (of 14 syllables) and with consonant rhyme (14A 14A 14A 14A).

The stanzas of five verses are usually divided, in turn, into three subgroups, which are the following:

• Quintet: five verses of major art, consonant rhyme that follows the scheme: 11A 11B 11A 11A 11B
• Limerick: five verses of minor art with consonant rhyme and scheme more variable than the quintet, for example: 8a 8b 8a 8a 8b
• Lira: five verses, two of them hendecasyllables (of 11 syllables) and the remaining three, heptasyllables (of 7 syllables) with consonant rhyme.

The six-line stanzas are called broken foot stanzas and they are of minor art and with consonant rhyme, like the following example that follows the scheme 8a 8b 4c 8a 8b 4c:

Remember the sleeping soul / enliven your brain and wake up /watching / how life is spent / how death comes, / so quiet.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we discover you what is the minor and major art.

The eight-line stanzas are classified into two groups:

• Royal Octave: stanza of eight verses of major art and consonant rhyme
• Pamphlet: stanza of eight lines, similar to the previous one, but composed of verses of minor art and consonant rhyme:

With ten cannonry per band, / Wind in their sails, / does not cut the sea, but flies /a brig sailboat: / pirate ship, what they call, / for his bravery the "feared", / in every known sea / from one to the other border.

In this other lesson you will discover the differences between assonance and consonant rhyme.

The stanzas consisting of ten verses are called tenths, and they have verses of minor art with consonant rhyme. An example of a tenth is the following:

The tactile chirp / -Minimal sidereal bird- / Sparkling melody / The fierce frigid night. / Broken the egg of the moon, / The chick jumped. Timely, / candid spark in cry / that makes the sky more human! / To reach/ despite the infinite space.

And finally, we come to the fourteen-line stanza that It is known by the name of sonnetundoubtedly the best known of them all. The sonnet is made up of fourteen verses of major art, divided into two quartets and two triplets, both with consonant rhymes. An example is the following:

While for competing with your hair,

sun-burnished gold glitters in vain;

while with contempt in the middle of the plain

look at your white forehead the beautiful lilio;

while to each lip, to catch it.

More eyes follow than the early carnation;

and while triumphing with lush disdain

from the shining crystal your gentle neck:

enjoys neck, hair, lip and forehead,

before what was in your golden age

gold, lilium, carnation, shining crystal,

not only in silver or trunked vïola

it becomes, plus you and it together

on the ground, in smoke, in dust, in shadow, in nothing.