1. B.AII. English Elective by Jaspreet Kaur
Stanza Literary Terms
B.AII. English Elective by Jaspreet Kaur

2. Stanza Italian for “stopping place”.
Grouping of verse lines in a poem.
Marked by recurrent rhyme schemes.
Uniform in number and lengths of components lines.
Specified by the number of lines, the type and number of feet in each line, and the pattern of the rhyme.

3. Stanzas used frequently Couplet
A pair of rhymed lines. Octosyllabic Couplet –
Lines of eight syllables, consisting of four iambic feet.
Heroic couplet – Iambic pentameter lines.

4. Tercet
Also called triplet – stanza of three lines with a single rhyme.
Lines may be of the same length or varying lengths.

5. Quatrain Four line stanza Most common in English Versification
Heroic Quatrain – Is in iambic pentameter rhyming “a b a b”. Example – Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”

6. Ottava Rima Brought from Italian into English by Sir Thomas Wyatt
Has eight lines
Rhyme scheme – a b a b a b c c

7. Other Types
Rhyme royal
Terza rima
Spensarian stanza