stanza
an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.
Origin of stanza
1synonym study For stanza
word story For stanza
Stanza and strophe are often used interchangeably, but stanza is more properly used for modern rhyming poetry based on stressed versus unstressed syllables, and strophe is more properly used for ancient quantitative poetry based on the duration of syllables, especially in Greek drama. In modern poetry, a strophe is any separate section or extended movement in a poem, distinguished from a stanza in that it does not follow a regularly repeated scheme.
Other words from stanza
- stanzaed, adjective
- stan·za·ic [stan-zey-ik], /stænˈzeɪ ɪk/, stan·za·i·cal, adjective
- stan·za·i·cal·ly, adverb
- non·stan·za·ic, adjective
- un·stan·za·ic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use stanza in a sentence
When she puts on her old clothes, the process gets a full stanza of its own.
The history of Mulan, from a 6th-century ballad to the live-action Disney movie | Constance Grady | September 4, 2020 | VoxThe poetry, even in the epics, is stanzaic; no part of it can fairly be compared to English blank verse.
Translations of Shakuntala and Other Works | KalidasaIn melody and stanzaic form, we shall see that the two poems are not unlike, but in motive they are totally distinct.
The Raven | Edgar Allan PoeThe chief defect of her present piece is the absence of rhyme, which should always occur in a short stanzaic poem.
Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922 | Howard Phillips LovecraftOn the various kinds of stanzaic structure, see pages 88 ff., below.
The Principles of English Versification | Paull Franklin Baum
For complete lists and examples of all the various stanzaic forms, the larger works of Alden and Schipper should be consulted.
The Principles of English Versification | Paull Franklin Baum
British Dictionary definitions for stanza
/ (ˈstænzə) /
prosody a fixed number of verse lines arranged in a definite metrical pattern, forming a unit of a poem
US and Australian a half or a quarter in a football match
Origin of stanza
1Derived forms of stanza
- stanzaed, adjective
- stanzaic (stænˈzeɪɪk), adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for stanza
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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