A stanza is a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem. It is the poetic equivalent of a paragraph. Stanzas are separated by blank lines. They give a poem structure and shape.

Stanzas come in many sizes. A couplet has two lines. A tercet has three. A quatrain has four. A sestet has six. An octave has eight. The names come from Italian. A poem can use the same stanza form throughout, or it can vary. Rhyme schemes often follow stanza boundaries. A quatrain might rhyme ABAB or AABB. The stanza break creates a pause. It gives the reader time to breathe and think. In free verse, stanzas are not defined by meter or rhyme, but they still organize the poem. They group images and ideas. A stanza is a unit of thought as much as a unit of form.

Common stanzas

• Couplet: two lines
• Tercet: three lines
• Quatrain: four lines
• Sestet: six lines
• Octave: eight lines