In literature, the stanza it is a structure of the poetic composition formed by a set of verses that share relations of meaning and meter with each other.
In other words, the stanza represents a set of verses, which in turn correspond to a line of poetic text.
Examples of Stanza
As an example, below is an excerpt from the “Soneto de Fidelidade”, by the Brazilian writer Vinícius de Moraes:
“From everything to my love I will be attentive
Before, and with such zeal, and always, and so much
That even in the face of the greatest charm
Of him my thoughts become more enchanted.
I want to live it in every moment
And in your praise I will spread my song
And laugh my laugh and shed my tears
Your grief or your contentment
And so, when you come to me later
Who knows the death, anguish of those who live
Who knows loneliness, end of those who love
I can tell myself about the love (that I had):
That it is not immortal, since it is flame
But let it be infinite while it lasts.”
It is important to note that in the literature there are many fixed poetic forms, that is, they follow a poetic metric pattern.
O sonnet it is a fixed form composed of fourteen lines, consisting of two quartets (strophes of four lines) and two triplets (strophes of three lines).
Types of Stanzas
According to the size of the verse, the stanza can be
- Simple: poem composed of verses that have the same measure.
- Composite: poem that groups verses of different measures.
- free: when there is grouping of verses without any metric rigor.
Classification of Stanzas
According to the number of verses grouped in a poem, the stanza receives the following names:
- monastic: stanza formed by a verse.
- couplet or pair: stanza formed by two verses.
- Triplet or tristical: stanza formed by three verses.
- Quartet or Block: stanza formed by four verses.
- Quintille, Quintet or pentastic: stanza formed by five verses.
- sextile, Sextet or Hexastic: stanza formed by six verses.
- septile, heptet, Heptastic, seventh or septen: stanza formed by seven verses.
- eighth or octastic: stanza formed by eight verses.
- ninth: stanza formed by nine verses.
- From above or Decade: stanza formed by ten verses.
Verse
It is important to note that the verse corresponds to a line of the poem, which may or may not be rhymed.
You free verses they get that name for not following any poetic rules. already called white verses are those that do not have a rhyme, however, may have a meter.
So, as for the meter of the verses, there are two classifications:
- Isometric Verses are those that have equal measure;
- heterometric verses those that present verses of different measures.
Depending on the number of poetic syllables, the verses that follow meter patterns are classified into:
- Monosyllable: verse composed of a poetic syllable.
- disyllable: verse composed of two poetic syllables.
- Trisyllable: verse composed of three poetic syllables.
- Tetrasyllable: verse composed of four poetic syllables.
- pentasyllable: verse composed of five poetic syllables.
- hexasyllable: verse composed of six poetic syllables.
- heptasyllable: verse composed of seven poetic syllables.
- octosyllable: verse composed of eight poetic syllables.
- Eneasyllable: verse composed of nine poetic syllables.
- decasyllables: verse composed of ten poetic syllables.
- hendecasyllables: verse composed of eleven poetic syllables.
- dodecasyllables: verse composed of twelve poetic syllables.
Read too:
- Versification
- Metrification
- Verse, stanza and rhyme
Curiosities
- If the stanza is made up of more than ten lines it is called an "irregular stanza" or "barbarian stanza". Likewise, the verses that have more than twelve poetic syllables are the “barbarian verses”.
- Refrain or Chorus designates the repetition of the same stanza in a poem.
