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A short stanza (e.g., 1-2 lines) often creates emphasis or disruption.
Analysis advice:
A single long stanza often creates a sense of flow or uninterrupted thought.
I can feel the tug
of the halter at the nape
of her neck, the wind
on her naked front.
It blows her nipples
to amber beads,
it shakes the frail rigging
of her ribs.
I can see her drowned
body in the bog,
the weighing stone,
the floating rods and boughs.
Under which her naked front
is pubic bone,
the shaved head
like a stubble of black corn,
her blindfold a soiled bandage,
her noose a ring
to store
the memories of love.
Little adulteress,
before they punished you
Analysis advice:
Line length can slow down or speed up pace, and therefore affect tone or mood.
Analysis advice:
Analysis advice:
Line breaks happen in almost all poems, but only analyse them when they’re used for effect.
"Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour." (breaks stanza) "Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch."
Analysis advice:
Enjambment
A line that continues onto the next without punctuation.
Endstopping
When a line ends with punctuation (., ;, !, etc.)
Caesura
A pause within a line, often marked by punctuation like a comma, dash, or ellipsis.
Meter
The rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. Common meters include iambic pentameter (five iambs: da-DUM) and trochaic tetrameter (four trochees: DA-dum).
Volta
A rhetorical or thematic shift, especially in sonnets, where tone or argument changes.
Stanza
A stanza is a group of lines, like a paragraph in prose.
I can feel the tug
of the halter at the nape
of her neck, the wind
on her naked front.
It blows her nipples
to amber beads,
it shakes the frail rigging
of her ribs.
I can see her drowned
body in the bog,
the weighing stone,
the floating rods and boughs.
Under which her ribs
are amber.
The drowned, drowned face
is scapegoat,
I who have stood dumb
when your betraying sisters,
cauled in tar,
wept by the railings,
who would connive
in civilized outrage
yet understand the exact
and tribal, intimate revenge.
Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds, often at the end of lines. Types include perfect rhyme (day/play), slant rhyme(room/storm), and internal rhyme (rhyme within a single line).
Refrain
A repeated line or phrase, usually at regular intervals (often at the end of stanzas).
