A course of modern english lexicology

4. STRUCTURE OF VERSE. STANZA

Stanza is the term which is very often used to refer to a certain number of poetic lines.
Stanza is any group of lines that is separated in the poem from other groups of lines. They do not always rhyme.
In print one can identify a separate stanza by a blank line before and after a group of lines.
In most cases the stanzas in a poem share a common structure, that is, the same rhyme-scheme.
Two or more verse lines make a stanza (also called a strophe). It is characterized by a number of lines, type of metre, rhyming pattern. The main stanzas in English poetry are:
A. The Ballad Stanza
The Ballad stanza is a four-line stanza, known as a quatrain, most often found in the folk ballad. Usually only the second and fourth lines rhyme (an abcb pattern). Assonance in place of rhyme is common.
It consists of 4 lines; the 1^st & the 3d lines are iambic tetrametres, the 2d and the 4^th lines are iambic demetres; the rhyming pattern is abcb (abab);
B. The Spenserian Stanza
The Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene.
It consists of 9 lines; 8 lines are of iambic pentametre, 1 line is of iambic hexametre; the rhyming pattern is ababbcbcc;
C. The Ottava Rima
The Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. It was originally used for long poems on heroic themes. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio.
It consists of 8 lines of iambic pentametre; the rhyming pattern is abababcc;
D. The Sonnet
The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe. The term “sonnet” means “little song”.
It consists of 14 lines of iambic pentametre; the rhyming pattern is abba abba cde cde (Italian) abab cdcd efef gg (Shakespearean);