POETRY

LINES & STANZAS

LINES There are

single lines in poems.

It's Dark in Here

1 I am writing these poems2 From inside a lion,3 And it's rather dark in here.4 So please excuse the handwriting5 Which may not be too clear.6 But this afternoon by the lion's cage7 I'm afraid I got too near.8 And I'm writing these lines9 From inside a lion,10 And it's rather dark in here.

Shel Silverstein

STANZAS Within a poem you will sometimes see

stanzas. Stanzas give a poem fixed structure. Stanzas have an appearance like a

paragraph, but they are not indented. Types of stanzas include: couplets, triplets

and quatrains.

COUPLET A couplet is two

lines of poetry grouped together.

These two lines usually rhyme.

Humor is often used in couplets.

A MINOR BIRD

I’ve wished a bird would fly away, And not sing by my house all day:

Have clapped my hands at him from the door When it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me. The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrong In want to silence any song. Robert Frost

TRIPLET A triplet is a group of

three lines .

The 3 lines within the stanza usually rhyme.

The Toucan

Tell me who canCatch a toucan?Lou can.

Just how few canRide the toucan?Two can.

What kind of goo canStick you to the toucan?Glue can.

Who can write someMore about the toucan?You can!

Shel Silverstein

QUATRAIN Quatrains is a a four line

stanza.

It has a variety of common patterns

EXAMPLES OF PATTERNS:

A B B A A A B B A B A B A B C G (most common)

WILT CHAMBERLAIN

Wilt was so built

He could give it a tilt

Over the rim

Hardly higher than him.

Does Wilty feel quilty

He’s not that trim

In girth and limb

As when he was slim?

R.R. Knudson