The Building Blocks of a Poem
What a stanza is and how to write one
I love reading poetry and was excited to take a poetry writing course several years ago. But I learned that reading and writing poetry are two entirely different experiences. There were so many rules and styles to learn that I quickly became overwhelmed, and writing poetry was not the fun encounter I had expected it to be. However, I did learn that the easiest way to attempt to write a poem is by beginning with a simple stanza.
How stanza poetry is different from free verse poetry
A stanza
is a deliberate
group of lines
in a poem.
A verse can be a single line of poetry or an entire poem.
Components of a stanza
Stanzas are a few lines grouped usually around a common theme. Like writing a paragraph when we write prose, a stanza gives structure and guides the reader through the idea you want to convey.
A poem can consist of one solitary stanza or become an entire storybook. It depends on what you want to write about and how in-depth you want to go to get your idea across to the reader.
