U S I N G T H E S T R U C T U R E O F P O E T RY

LINE, STANZA, AND RHYME

DEFINITIONS

Line

Stanza

Rhyme

The basic compositional unit of a poem

A group of lines gathered to form a unit

Words that echo the sounds of other words

T H E B A S I C C O M P O S I T I O N A L U N I T O F A P O E M

LINE

A LINE IN POETRY CAN BE BROKEN

Based on Set Structure and Rhythm

“Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips' red;If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.I have seen roses damasked, red and white,But no such roses see I in her cheeks;And in some perfumes is there more delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat music hath a far more pleasing sound;I grant I never saw a goddess go;My mistress when she walks treads on the

ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

Based on Strength of Words or Natural Pauses

“This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams

I have eatenthe plumsthat were inthe icebox 

and whichyou were probablySavingfor breakfast

Forgive methey were deliciousso sweetand so cold

EXCEPTION

When a poem doesn’t have line breaks, it is called a prose poem. Robert Hass

The young composer, working that summer at an artist's colony, had watched her for a week. She was Japanese, a painter, almost sixty, and he thought he was in love with her. He loved her work, and her work was like the way she moved her body, used her hands, looked at him directly when she made amused and considered answers to his questions. One night, walking back from a concert, they came to her door and she turned to him and said, "I think you would like to have me. I would like that too, but I must tell you that I have had a double mastectomy," and when he didn't understand, "I've lost both my breasts." The radiance that he had carried around in his belly and chest cavity - like music - withered very quickly, and he made himself look at her when he said, "I'm sorry. I don't think I could." He walked back to his own cabin through the pines, and in the morning he found a small blue bowl on the porch outside his door. It looked to be full of rose petals, but he found when he picked it up that the rose petals were on top; the rest of the bowl - she must have swept them from the corners of her studio - was full of dead bees.

POETRY CAN TAKE SHAPE

• Lines in poetry can take shape to help convey meaning.• Example:

“Spring Blossoms”

A sign of spring beginnings, delicate white with powder pink veins,

petals join at the center with spider legs, the gentle tangy sweet aroma of apples

complete the vision that floats like sea foam upon limbs

seemingly barren only a month ago.

Trees neatly lined side by

side bloom

in unison.

--Judi Van Gorder

A G R O U P O F L I N E S G AT H E R E D T O F O R M A U N I T

STANZA

STANZA VOCABULARY

• Couplet• Two lines

• Tercet • Three lines

• Quatrain• Four lines

W O R D S T H AT E C H O T H E S O U N D S O F O T H E R W O R D S

RHYME

RHYME VOCABULARY

• End Rhyme • Rhyme at the end of lines of poetry• Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

• Internal Rhyme • Rhyme with one word in the middle of the line• The man from Nantucket bought a bucket.

• Slant Rhyme• Rhyme that does not echo the entire word, only a portion

of the word is repeated. • I kneeled to the crickets trilling

WHEN RHYME GOES WRONG

• When the reader can predict what the rhyme will be.

• When you are using it because it is easy.

• When it is always one syllable and always end rhyme.

YOUR TURN!

Write a poem about something you do everyday. Try to produce the feeling of whatever it is with the words. You must include the following:• All three elements of poetry just discussed: line, stanza, and

rhyme (please be creative with your use of rhyme).• Your poem must be at least 8 lines in length.• Keep it school appropriate.

Be prepared to share your poems in small groups.