Poetry is art, and as such, can’t be wrong. These are the basic building blocks of poetry but you can do whatever you want!
The basic structure of poetry includes stanza, rhyme, meter, and line breaks.
Stanza is a group of lines in a poem. It’s often called a ‘verse.’
Rhyme is a pattern of words that contain similar sounds.
Meter is the rythmic structure of a poem (measured by counting/tapping the syllables.)
A line break is where a line of poetry ends. It indicates a pause and effects how you read the poem.
Stanzas
- Closed couplet: A stanza of 2 lines, usually rhyming
- Tercet: A stanza of 3 lines. When a poem has tercets that have a rhyme scheme of ABA, then BCB, then CDC and so forth, this is known as terza rima.
- Quatrain: A stanza of 4 lines, usually with rhyme schemes of AAAA, AABB, ABBA, or ABAB
- Cinquain: A stanza of 5 lines
- Sestain or Sestet: A stanza of 6 lines
- Octave: A stanza of 8 lines in iambic pentameter or hendecasyllables, usually with the rhyme scheme ABBA ABBA
Rhyme
- Alternate rhyme. In an alternate rhyme, the first and third lines rhyme at the end, and the second and fourth lines rhyme at the end following the pattern ABAB for each stanza. This rhyme scheme is used for poems with four-line stanzas.
- Ballade. A ballade is a lyric poem that follows the rhyme scheme ABABBCBC. Ballades typically have three, eight-line stanzas and conclude with a four-line stanza. The last line of each stanza is the same, which is called a refrain.
- Coupled rhyme. A coupled rhyme is a two-line stanza that rhymes following the rhyme scheme AA BB CC, or a similar dual rhyming scheme. The rhymes themselves are referred to as rhyming couplets.
- Monorhyme. In a monorhyme, all the lines in a stanza or entire poem end with the same rhyme.
- Enclosed rhyme. The first and fourth lines and the second and third lines rhyme with each other in an enclosed rhyme scheme. The pattern is ABBA, in which A encloses the B.
- Simple four-line rhyme. These poems follow a rhyme scheme of ABCB throughout the entire poem.
- Triplet. A triplet is a set of three lines in a stanza—called a tercet—that share the same end rhyme.
- Terza rima. An Italian form of poetry that consists of tercets, a terza rima follows a chain rhyme in which the second line of each stanza rhymes with the first and last line of the subsequent stanza. It ends with a couplet rhyming with the middle line of the penultimate stanza. The pattern is ABA BCB CDC DED EE.
- Limerick. A limerick is a five-line poem with the rhyme scheme AABBAA.
- Villanelle. A type of poem with five three-line stanzas that follow a rhyme scheme of ABA. The villanelle concludes with a four-line stanza with the pattern ABAA.
Meter
- Trochee: stressed syllable followed by unstressed syllable, as in “custom”
- Gently down the stream
- Hold your horses
- Happy birthday
- Merry Christmas
- Nice to meet you
- Iamb: unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable, as in “describe”
- I pledge allegiance to the flag
- Your wish is my command
- It came upon a midnight clear
- No pain, no gain
- The buck stops here
- Spondee: equal stress for both syllables, as in “cupcake”
- Lay low
- Stay gold
- On point
- Step up
- Lights out
- Dactyl: stressed syllable, followed by two unstressed syllables, as in “bicycle”
- Where do you think you are going?
- Easy come, easy go
- Go forth and conquer
- Let them eat cake
- Live long and prosper
- Anapest: two unstressed syllables, followed by a stressed syllable, as in “understand”
- In the blink of an eye
- Hit the nail on the head
- At the drop of a hat
- Costs an arm and a leg
- In the blink of an eye
Line Break
There are two different types of line breaks: end-stopped and enjambled. End-stopped means ending the line at a normal pause, such as at the end of a sentence or where a comma occurs. Enjambled lines end (almost) anywhere, but is best avoided in the following cases:
- Never end a poetic line on an article (a/an, the).
- Never end a poetic line on a pronoun (I, me, mine, his, hers, theirs, yours…).
- Never end a poetic line on a conjunction (and, or, so, nor…). It’s better to have such words at the start of the next line or buried in the middle of lines instead.
- Try really hard not to end a poetic line on a preposition.
- Line break on unusual nouns and verbs that ring strong as standalone words.
Implement: I know we’ve gone over a lot. Here’s what I want you to do: pick a stanza, pick a rhyme scheme, and go for it! You can even listen to your favourite songs and work out the meter and rhyme scheme. (I promise, it’s actually kind of fun!)
Share what you come up with in our group– I can’t wait to see it!
Remember- poetry is art, and art can’t be wrong. Don’t be discouraged- just have fun and do what you want!
