20 Examples of Stanzas

Stanzas

The stanzas are units of the poetry containing two or more verses. There are different types of stanzas depending on the number of verses they have, the length of the verses, the rhythm and the rhyme.

A stanza is separated from other stanzas by the white space between them or by punctuation marks. Generally, it is part of a poetic composition that is more extensive.

In classical poetry, the stanzas had certain rules since the type of composition determined the number of stanzas, the length of the verses and the type of rhyme. For example, the Christmas carol has four stanzas with certain characteristics.

On the other hand, in contemporary poetry the same compositional rules are not usually followed. That is why it is common for the free verse to appear (it does not have a rhyme or a certain length) or the white line (it has a certain length, but it does not rhyme with other verses).

Examples of stanzas

1. Semi-detached. It is a stanza of two verses that have assonance rhyme or consonant.

Spring has come
Nobody knows how it has been

Antonio Machado

1. Hallelujah. It is a couplet of eight syllable verses (which have eight syllables).

Before a broken window
I sew my lyrical cup. (to)

Federico Garcia Lorca

1. Third. It is a stanza of three hendecasyllable verses (which have eleven syllables) with consonant rhyme, but which may present variations. For example, the chained triplet, in which the first verse rhymes with the third (A) and the second verse rhymes with the first and third of the following verse (B).

In the middle of winter it's warm (A)
the fresh water of this clear fountain, (B)
and in the summer more than frozen snow (A)

Oh clear waves, how I see the present (B)
in seeing you, the memory of that day (C)
that the soul trembles and burns is felt. (B)

Garcilaso de la Vega

1. Third. Generally, it is a stanza of eight syllable verses (it has eight syllables) with a consonant rhyme of the first and third lines (a). If the rhyme is assonance, it is another type of stanza called soleá.

And those children in line, (a)
carrying the afternoon sun (-)
in their wax candles... (to)

Antonio Machado

1. Quartet. It is a stanza of four hendecasyllable verses (of eleven syllables) with consonant rhyme. The first verse rhymes with the fourth (A) and the second with the third (B).

Now you are working embedded, (A)
or weaving delicate fabrics; (B)
agora with each other apart (B)
telling you the loves and the lives; (TO)

Garcilaso de la Vega

1. Round. It is a stanza of four eight-syllable lines (of eight syllables) with consonant rhyme. The rhyme can be: the first verse rhymes with the third and the second with the fourth; or rhyme the first with the fourth (a) and the second with the third (b).

I grow a white rose, (a)
in July as in January, (b)
for the sincere friend (b)
that gives me the frank hand of him. (to)

Jose Marti

1. Serventesio. It is a stanza of four hendecasyllable verses (of eleven syllables) with consonant rhyme between the first and third verse (A) and between the second and fourth (B).

It was a soft air, of leisurely turns; (TO)
the fairy Harmony rhythm the flights of him; (B)
and there were vague phrases and thin sighs (A)
between the sobs of the cellos. (B)

Ruben Dario

1. Quatrain. It is a stanza of four eight-syllable verses (of eight syllables) with consonant or assonance rhyme between the first and third lines (a) and between the second and fourth (b).

Light of the soul, divine light, (a)
lighthouse, torch, star, sun... (b)
A man groping walks; (to)
he carries a lantern on his back. (b)

Antonio Machado

1. Seguidilla. It is a stanza made up of four verses. The first and third lines are heptasyllables (seven syllables) and do not rhyme (-) and the second and fourth are pentasyllables (five syllables) and have assonance rhymes (a).

He leads me to war (-)
my need
if he had money, (-)
not out, really

Miguel de Cervantes

1. Sash. It is a stanza formed by four Alexandrian verses (fourteen syllables) with consonant rhyme (A). It was used in the mester de clerecía, a type of poetry from the Middle Ages.

I want to see a prose in roman paladino (A)
in which the town tends to fable its neighbor, (A)
ca not so literate by fer another Latino; (TO)
It will be well worth, as I think, a glass of bon vino. (TO)

Gonzalo de Berceo

1. Limerick. It is a stanza made up of verses, which are generally eight syllables (eight syllables). It usually has a consonant rhyme, but it can be an assonance rhyme. In these stanzas they cannot rhyme three verses in a row and the ending cannot be a couplet rhyme.

There is no camuesa that shaves
that does not give you an advantage, (b)
nor blond and golden oil
preserved in the jar, (b)
that causes me more delight. (to)

Lope de Vega

1. Quintet. It is a stanza formed by five verses of more than eight syllables each and has a consonant rhyme. In these stanzas they cannot rhyme three verses in a row and the ending cannot be a couplet rhyme.

Floating her hair, girded with flowers, (A)
he sees her behind the bars: what voice did she call her? (B)
«-My tears look; for our loves (A)
»Here you see me: a vow my love pronounced, (B)
»He pronounced that he will soon dry these flowers. (TO)

Pablo Piferrer

1. Lyre quintet. It is a stanza of five verses, three heptasyllables (of seven syllables) and two hendecasyllables (of eleven syllables) with consonant rhyme.

and in rough mountains (a)
with the süave I sing tenderness (B)
the wild vermin, (a)
the trees move (b)
and the trujiese are confusingly: (B)

Garcilaso de la Vega

1. Sextet. It is a stanza of six verses of more than eight syllables with consonant rhyme.

Doña Estefaldina, blood of the Vargas, (A)
knit her sock on long afternoons (A)
under the grim eaves that the sparrow bites (B)
With what ceremony in the gestures (C)
respond to the chaplains' greeting (C)
Doña Estefaldina from her balcony! (B)

Ramón María del Valle-Inclán

1. Sextilla. It is a stanza of six lines of eight syllables or less with consonant rhyme. In these stanzas they cannot rhyme three verses in a row and the ending cannot be a couplet rhyme.

And in numerous rows, (a)
parallel, tortuous, (a)
the ants come and go... (c)
The path is hard and long, (b)
very heavy load (b)
and suffocating fatigue; (c)

José María Gabriel y Galán

1. Lyre sextet. It is a stanza of six seven-syllable verses (of seven syllables) and hendecasyllables (of eleven syllables) with consonant rhyme.

Claudio if you want to have a little fun (A)
thinking so busy, (B)
hey without instrument (b)
the ideas of a madman
that in the cowardly light of so much abyss (C)
he tries to untie himself from himself. (c)

Lope de Vega

1. Lyre septet. It is a stanza of seven seven-syllable verses (of seven syllables) and hendecasyllables (of eleven syllables) with consonant rhyme.

It is not always powerful, (a)
Carrero, evil does not always hit (B)
the poisonous envy, (a)
and the lawless force that steepens the most (B)
at last the forehead bows; (b)
that who opposes heaven, (c)
the higher it rises, the higher it comes to the ground. (C)

Fray Luis de Leon

1. Royal Octave. It is a stanza of eight hendecasyllable verses (of eleven syllables) with alternating rhyme in the first six verses (A and B) and the last two make up a couplet (C).

Purple roses on Galatea (A)
Dawn among candid lilies sheds leaves; (B)
Love doubts what else its color is, (A)
or snowy purple, or red snow. (B)
From his forehead the pearl is, Eritrea, (A)
emula goes. The blind god gets mad, (B)
and, condemned its splendor, leaves it (C)
to hang in gold to the mother-of-pearl of his ear. (C)

Luis de Gongora

1. Italian eighth. It is a stanza of eight hendecasyllable verses (of eleven syllables) or of more syllables with consonant rhyme. It has a specific structure: the first and fifth verses do not rhyme (-), the second rhymes with the third (A), the fourth rhymes with the eighth (B) and the sixth with the seventh (C).

In the high columns of the temple (-)
to the prayers the lamp calls; (TO)
sad and scarce fire spills (A)
that blackens the ship around. (B)
Only the marble of altars and tombs (-)
with the sepulchral light of him it is colored: (C)
It is the ray of pale aurora, (C)
of a star the trembling brilliance. (B)

Salvador Bermúdez de Castro

1. Pamphlet. It is a stanza of eight lines of eight syllables (eight syllables) or lines of fewer syllables and is made up of two rounds, which share a rhyme. The structure of the rhyme is the same as the structure of the Italian octave.

Pay attention to my pain, (-)
do not be inadvertent to me, (a)
grant him my life
not even a glance; (b)
don't let him die like this (-)
between sorrows dejected, (c)
look at me, by God, I ask you, (c)
Just look at me for a moment! (b)

Louis Stoick

1. 10th spinel. It is a stanza of ten eight-syllable lines (of eight syllables) with consonant rhyme.

Crystals the Po unleashes, (a)
that to the son they were from the Sun, (b)
yes tremulous no bluff, (b)
burial mound of undose silver; (to)
the foamy dilata (a)
weapons of vicious bull, (s)
against architect canoro, (c)
that the edge of the Tagus eternalizes (d)
the fulminated ash (d)
in symmetrical gold urn. (c)

Luis de Gongora

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