The term "stanza" comes from the ancient Greek word meaning "turn", "circle". This is a combination of a certain number of verses (poetic lines), which makes up semantic, syntactic and rhythmic unity. "A stanza is how many lines?" - you ask. We answer. Its composition may include from 2 to 14 verses. The names of the stanzas (basic) we will present to you now.
Couplet
The simplest of them is a couplet (in another - distich). This type of stanza is used relatively rarely in Russian poetry. It was used, for example, by M. Yu. Lermontov in his poem "The Sea Princess".
Tercet
A stanza consisting of three poetic lines is called a three-stanza (otherwise - terzet). This species is also quite rarely used by Russian poets. More often, the three-verses are included in other, larger stanzas. They wrote, for example, the poem "Song of Hell" by A. A. Blok.
Quatrain
The most popular of all other types of stanzas is the quatrain among domestic poets (in other words, quatrain). The combination of four verses in it allows you to get an incredible variety of intonation, rhythm. Quatrains are distinguished by the flexibility of syntax. It may in some cases be included in other, larger types of stanzas. An example is the Onegin stanza and sonnet. In the quatrain, all sorts of rhyming methods are used , but most often there are the so-called cross rhymes (constructed according to the abab scheme). For example, this is the poem "Dream" by M. Yu. Lermontov, in which the first line rhymes with the third, and the second with the fourth. There are many examples.
Do not confuse two similar words - "string" and "stanza". Both of these concepts are combined in that they are composed of verses. 4 stanzas, however, can include a work written by quatrain, distich, terzet, etc. And the 4 lines that make up the stanza are always quatrain.
Stans
The stanzas are a special kind of stanza that has four lines. Let us dwell on it in more detail. In Russian poetry, it is a four-verse composed of four-foot iambic stanza, a stanza that uses a cross rhyme (constructed according to the abab scheme). In addition to these formal features, each of the quatrains also has a semantic completeness. The most striking works written by the stanzas in Russian literature belong to A.S. Pushkin. In his poems this stanza is found several times. Examples: "Am I wandering ...", "Stans", "In the depths of Siberian ores."
Of the other types of stanzas that are rarely used in Russian poetry, one should distinguish a sonnet, an octave, and also a special kind created by Pushkin, the Onegin stanza.
Sonnet
A sonnet is most often considered as one of the genres of lyrics. However, from a formal point of view, this is a stanza. The sonnet includes two parts. The first consists of two quatrains (i.e., quatrains), the second contains two terzets (i.e., three-stanzas).
A sonnet like a stanza is how many lines? To answer this question, you can calculate their number in the components indicated by us and summarize the numbers obtained. You can do it yourself and check the result. You should get exactly 14 lines. In sonnets, the poetic size is five-foot iambic (less often six-foot). Even in the classic, rigorous version, the rhyming scheme can change under the following prerequisite: two equivalent rhymes should be used in quatrains, in three verses two (or, more rarely, three) should be used, which differ from those used in quatrains. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin created three well-known sonnets: "Madonna", "Poet", "Severe Dant did not despise the sonnet ...".
Onegin stanza
The Onegin stanza by Alexander Sergeyevich was introduced into the literature specifically for the novel called "Eugene Onegin." As you might guess, its name comes precisely from this work. The following block diagram corresponds to it: AbAbCCddEffEgg. Answer the question "how many lines in the Onegin stanza?" You can by counting the number of elements in the circuit. There are only 14. In this scheme, female clauses (endings) are indicated in capital letters, and male clauses are indicated in lowercase. Throughout the text of "Eugene Onegin" this structure is maintained, except for letters from Tatyana (chapter three), Onegin (eighth), as well as "Girls' Songs" (third chapter).
Octave
We answer the following question: "Octave as a stanza - how many lines?" It consists of eight verses, as the name suggests. "Octave" in Latin means "eighth." The poetic lines in it rhyme according to the following principle: abababcc. Mandatory is the alternation of female and male clauses. Which of the famous works of Russian poetry uses such a stanza? An example of an octave is the “House in Kolomna”, a poem by Pushkin.
What types of stanzas are there?
The division of stanzas often occurs on the basis of the connection of rhymes in it. However, both in the West and in Russian poetry, considerable attention was also paid to the combination of rhymed verses with non-rhymed verses. This must be taken into account when answering the question "What is a stanza in a poem?" In addition, stanza species can also be obtained by introducing elongated and shortened verses. Often included in a series of verses that are of equal length, one is shorter (which happens more often) or longer (which happens less often). In addition, alternation according to certain rules in stanza of strings, most often rhymed, of unequal length, has become widespread today.
It should be noted that all these construction principles can be combined with each other, many stanzas can also be doubled by adding additional elements with a “mirror” (reverse) arrangement.
Features of song genres
In stanza composition, repetitions of various compositional units can play a special role. This is typical mainly for the song genre. It should be noted here the repetitions that are present within the same stanza (for example, the repetition in the last verse of the first, creating a ring-shaped construction). In various song genres, an independent stanza is also often found (it is called "refrain"), which is repeated without changes after each other in a given poem and gives a two-term cyclically returning composition.
When defining the term stanza, regular repeatability is considered as a mandatory feature. But poetic genres are also possible, where repetition is limited only by an analogy, more or less tangible, which in some cases is quite distinct, preserving compositional functions for this non-strict variety.
Some types of solid forms of stanzas in world poetry
A huge number of different solid forms of stanzas has accumulated world poetry. In ancient, for example, we will find a wealth of their varieties. They were tirelessly developed later in the lyrics of other European peoples. These are such types of stanzas as the Elegian distich, Horatiev, or Alkeev, stanza, sapphic large and small, Asklepiadova, represented by several species, and others. Repeatedly reproduced most of them in the domestic versification, most often inaccurate. In this sense, eastern poetry in Russian played a much smaller role. Recently, attempts were made to borrow several forms from it (Persian quatrain, gazelle). The rich heritage of the Romanesque peoples in Russian poetry is represented by some of the "solid forms", such as rondo, sonnet, octave, sextine, triolet, tertsina and others.
Alexandrian verse in Russian poetry
It should also be noted the Alexandrian verse, which firmly entered the domestic literature. It was borrowed from France and became in the 18th century in Russian poetry an obligatory form for a heroic poem and classical tragedy. It consists of couplets represented by caesed six-footed iambic, in which there are paired rhymes, alternately either female or male. Some other types of couplets were most often used in the genre of "romance", as well as in inscriptions, epigrams, etc. An example is the "Black Shawl" by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.
We examined some types of stanzas. In fact, there are quite a few of them. But these are the main ones that are used in Russian literature. We can assume that in most cases, this information is enough to analyze verses. Now you know what a stanza is in a poem. We hope you can highlight its main types. The answer to the question "Stanza - how many lines?" can be found in this text.