Stanza – poetry paragraph
Stanzas in a poem are like paragraphs in a story (it’s a posh way of saying verse, meaning several lines of a poem grouped together).
A stanza is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from other stanzas by a line of space.
The troops were ordered to stand (stanza) in groups of lines, with spaces between them. The paras (paragraphs) were arriving to support them.
Example
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
From Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night, by Dylan Thomas
NOTE:
Common stanza lengths are two, three, four, six or eight lines.
Stanza and verse – what’s the difference?
The term “verse” has several meanings in poetry – for instance, it can refer to the entire poem, poetry in general, or to a stanza within the poem. Stanza, however, always refers to a group of lines within a poem.
