Biography poem definition stanza

Definition of Stanza

In poetry, a stanza is a division of four or more lines having a fixed length, meter, or rhyming scheme.

Stanzas in poetry are similar to paragraphs in prose.

Both stanzas and paragraphs include connected thoughts, and are set off by a space. The number of lines varies in different kinds of stanzas, but it is uncommon for a stanza to have more than twelve lines. The pattern of a stanza is determined by the number of feet in each line, and by its metrical or rhyming scheme.

Stanza Examples in English Poetry

On the basis of a fixed number of lines and rhyming scheme, traditional English language poems have the following kinds of stanzas:

Let us make ourselves familiar with the above mentioned kinds of stanzas:

Couplet

A couplet consists of two rhyming lines having the same meter.

Consider the following couplet stanza examples:

Example #1: Essay on Criticism (By Alexander Pope)

“True wit is nature to advantage dress’d;
What oft was thou