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Optional English - Stanza

OPTIONAL ENGLISH  -  STANZA


✴️ Stanza: 

 ▶️A stanza is a group of lines in poetry which form a unit by themselves.
▶️Stanza is the unit of organisation in poetry.
▶️Stanza in poetry is similar to paragraph in prose.

▶️Stanzas in poetry may be regular or irregular.
▶️The number and variety of stanza forms in English cannot be counted.

▶️Some of the famous stanza forms in English are:
✴️1) Chaucerian Stanza    ✴️2)Ottava Rhyme       ✴️3) Spenserian Stanza
✴️4)Terza Stanza                ✴️5) Quatrain Stanza  ✴️6)Heroi Couplet
✴️7) Octasyllabic Couplet ✴️8) Satire


✴️ 1) Chaucerian Stanza or Rhyme Royal 

 ▶️This was first used in England by Chaucer “The Father of English Poetry”.
▶️He borrowed it from France.
▶️It is also called Rhyme Royal because it was used by King James I of Scotland in the 15th century for his poem “King’s Quake”.
▶️The Chaucerian stanza is a stanza of seven Iambic pentameter lines.
▶️The rhyme scheme is ab, abb, cc
▶️This form of stanza is very suitable for long narrative poems.
▶️Examples: The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, The Rape of Lucrece by Shakespeare, The Earthly Paradise by William Morris


✴️ 2) Ottava Rhyma 

▶️This stanza form was first used in England by Sir Thomas Wyatt.
▶️He borrowed it from Italy.
▶️It is very suitable for long narrative poems.
▶️Ottava Rhyma is a stanza of eight Iambic pentameter lines.
▶️The rhyme scheme is ab, ab, ab, cc


✴️ 3) Spenserian Stanza

▶️It was first used by Spenser in his romantic poem, The Fairy Queen.
▶️It is a stanza of eight Iambic pentametre and an Alexandrine at the end.
▶️An Alexandrine is a line of twelve syllables.
▶️The rhyme scheme is ab ab , bc bc , c
▶️This stanza form is very suitable for long narrative poems, but it is very difficult to handle.
▶️Examples: James Thomson in Castle of Indolence, Byron in Child Harold, Keats in The Eve of St. Agnes, Shelly in The Revolt of Islam, Tennyson in The Lotos – Eaters.


✴️ 4) The Terza Rhyma 

▶️It is an Italian verse form.
▶️It was first used by Dante in his epic, The Divine Comedy.
▶️Examples: It was used in England by Shelley in Ode to the West Wind, Byron in Prophecy of Dante, Browning in The Statute and the Busts and William Morri's The Defence of Guenervere.
▶️The Terza Stanza is a group of three lines forming a unit.
▶️A tercet may be run-on or closes.
▶️In run-on tercet, the meaning flows from one tercet to other.
This type is mostly used in English poetry.
▶️In closed tercet, each tercet is a complete sentence.
▶️The rhyme scheme is aba , bcb 


 ✴️ 5) Quatrain

▶️It is a stanza of four Iambic lines with alternate rhymes.
▶️The rhyme scheme is a b a b.
▶️The length of lines varies.
▶️Most of the ballads in English are written in this stanza.
So, it is also called Ballad Stanza. 
▶️Examples: Coleridge in The Ancient Mariner and Keat in La Belle Dame Sans Merci.


✴️ 6) Heroic Couplet 

▶️This stanza consists of two Iambic pentameter lines, rhyming together.
▶️It was mainly used for epic or heroic poetry.
▶️It was first used in England by Chaucer.
▶️He borrowed it from French.
▶️Most of the poetry of Augustan Age is in this stanza form.
▶️The heroic Couplet is of two kinds: closed and run-on.
▶️In closed couplet, each couplet is a complete sentence.
▶️In run-on couplet, the meaning flows from one couplet to next.
▶️Examples: Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales, Spencer in Mother Hubbard's Tales, Marlowe in Hero and Leander, Waller, Denham, Pope in Rape of the Lock, Dryden in Absalom and Achitophel.


✴️ 7) Octasyllabic Couplet 

▶️It is similar to Heroic couplet, but this stanza form has four feet (not five) in each line.
▶️It is very difficult to write in this stanza form.
▶️Examples: Samuel Butler in Sir Business, Coleridge in Christabel.


✴️ 8) Satire

▶️It is a literary work which points out faults in men or society and makes fun of them.
▶️This is done with an aim to correct or reform them.
▶️The first users of satire were Romans.


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