Too many authors do not imagine their lyrics without dividing them into pieces-columns. Someone says that this is done in order to convey a complete thought in each stanza, while others are inclined to the version of banal convenience: they say, it is easier to work with rhyme and rhythm. Many writers do not focus on the number of lines in the stanza, they just insert them as much as they think is necessary, this only affects the perception of the poem. In Russian poetry, the quatrain is the most common form of stanza used by both classical authors and modern writers.
What is a quatrain?
It cannot be said that the more rows in the “column”, the more beautiful the poem sounds. In no case: sometimes in couplets there is more sense than in whole ballads. Katren (aka quatrain) is a form of stanza that combines four lines in meaning and style. For him, there are no certain canons of rhyme and rhythm - here everything remains at the discretion of the author. The only thing I want to notice is how independent quatrains poems come out very infrequently, usually they are components of a larger work.
In Russian literature
But despite the fact that in classical literature, short quatrains are not very revered and it is not so easy to find them in collections of famous poets, quatrain verses still exist. It is impossible not to note the early lyrics of Pushkin: his madrigals and epigrams are excellent examples of quatrains completed within the meaning. This form of stanza is found in Akhmatova, Brodsky, and Pasternak; probably, each poet was born beautiful quatrains, which could not be shared.
But if we talk about the role of quatrains in large-scale works, then it becomes clear: they are a kind of bricks on which a whole poem, ballad or simple poem is built. The famous “Sail” by M. Lermontov consists of three columns in four rows, the same can be said about the famous poem “Swallow” by A. Pleshcheev (it begins with the words “The grass is green, the sun is shining, the swallow flies to us in the spring”). The quatrain is one of the most universal forms of stanza, successfully existing both independently and within the framework of a literary work.
World authors
With world poetry, things are not so simple. Russian translations are sometimes very far from the originals: usually only the main idea is preserved, and the poem itself is simply rewritten (many researchers have noticed that Shakespeare’s sonnets in Russian in Marshak’s translation sometimes sound even better than the creations of the English playwright themselves). It is because of this that it is difficult to talk about maintaining the stanza in translations.
But here, too, not everything is lost. Quatrain verses are the main form of lyrics by Omar Khayyam, a Persian scholar and poet who is so actively quoted on social networks. His works are not without wit, which is why they are often considered aphorisms.
One cannot fail to note another world famous forecaster - Michel Nostradamus. His book Centuria contains a huge number of quatrains, which allegorically describe the events of the future. Perhaps the decipherment of the verses of the prophet is simply adapted to real events, but it cannot be denied that much written by Nostradamus really came true.
Quatrains today
In modern poetry, quatrains are most often found in the form of comic poetic toasts. Greetings-quatrains can be found for any holiday, the main thing is just to choose the right one for the occasion. They are easy to remember, and look on the general background much more advantageous than simple words. But we must not forget that sometimes template verses can only offend the hero of the occasion - now this form of congratulations has become so widespread and there are so many quatrains that their use has crossed all borders. It seems that the sender simply celebrates with his message, congratulates "for show," and not because he wants to sincerely please a person.
And as with the choice of any poem, in no case can you cross the line between wit and vulgarity - nothing good will come of it. In order to find a good congratulatory poem, you also have to try.
For children
But what about such a widespread form of lyrics as baby quatrains? Of course, it’s not easy for kids to remember the works of classical authors, complex and saturated with epithets and metaphors, which is why short verses exist as a separate genre of children's literature. For the first time they are found in lullabies (usually these songs consist of several quatrains), then the quatrains appear in ABCs and riddles, followed by poems for babies. Which of the adults did not note that children quote huge pieces of their favorite fairy tales or short verses about letters from primers? Children's quatrains are created in order to develop the memory of babies, they become the foundation for the development of more complex forms of lyrics. In addition, usually in poems for children there is a clear rhyme and rhythm, which is why it is much easier to remember them than simple poems.
Conclusion
You can not belittle the advantages of various types of stanza, but at the same time no one denies that the shorter the columns, the faster they are remembered. Quatrain is a universal form of lyrics that exists freely both in the form of independent quatrains and as part of large literary works. Moreover, work with rhyme and rhythm is simplified as much as possible (an even number of lines allows you to play with all kinds of rhyme). It is likely that it was this simplicity that became the main reason for the popularity of quatrains.