How to Write a Stanza Poem

Schwartz 2011-12

Writing a Stanza Poem

• Before starting on with your stanza poem, it would not be a bad idea to get an understanding of what is a stanza and what it makes it an essential element in poem writing.

• A stanza is similar to a paragraph in an essay so selecting a stanza type for your poem means that you are limiting yourself to a particular set of rules of poetry writing; number of lines, rhyming structure and meter.

Meter in Poetry

• Is the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry.

• Meter gives rhythm and regularity to poetry.However, the English language does not always fit exactly into metrical patterns so many poems employing meter will exhibit irregularities.

• In English verse the most common meters are: iambic, dactylic, trochaic and anapestic

• An end stressed two syllable foot e.g. from In Memoriam by Lord Tennyson

I DREAMED | there WOULD| be SPRING | no MORE

• This example is an iambic tetrameter - it has four iambic feet and therefore the total number of syllables in the line is eight. Iambic is an example of rising meter.

Iambic Meter

Trochaic meter

• A front stressed two syllable foot.• e.g. The Song of Hiawatha by Henry

Wadsworth Longfellow BY the  | SHORES of | GIT chee | GUMee

• This example is trochaic tetrameter - i.e. four two syllable feet. Therefore the total line has eight syllables. Trochaic meter is less commonly used than iambic meter. Trochaic is an example of falling meter.

Anapestic meter

• An end stressed three syllable foot e.g. The Destruction of the Sennacherib by Byron:

And the SHEEN | of their SPEARS | was like STARS | on the SEA

• This line is an anapestic tetrameter i.e. it has four feet containing three syllables each. Therefore the total number of syllables in the line is twelve.

Select a Theme

• Poem writing is basically “a word dance” where you need to choreograph words, phrases and sentences and set them to a particular style of rhyming structure.

• Before beginning with your word dance, you need to set up a theme to follow.

• A theme is akin to a central idea around which a poem is built. It could be an object (tree, cloud, room etc.) or a concept (a love poem or dark poetry etc.)

Decide Your Style and Form

• Knowledge about a haiku or a sonnet is not mandatory for drafting a good poem. A person, totally clueless about different forms of poetry might be able to pen down a master piece if he or she knows how to manage the flow of words, acquired from inspiration.

• Select the rhyming structure that suits you best.• Try to format a few sentence on the basis of

your rhyming structure.• Lock it in.

Collect and Pen Down Your Random Thoughts

• Note down the abstract verses, words and small bits as they come.

• Jot down and play around by adjusting and readjusting your letters.

• Let loose of your imagination and you will form new ideas as you work with your sentences.

Filter, Select and Modify  Words

• Find synonyms and related words by making use of dictionary, thesaurus and a synonyms dictionary for your existing words.

• Insert them in your verses or make readjustments for them to fit in.

• Rephrase your verses so they form a better pattern.

Your Assignment

• Make as many notes as possible using the displayed photo as inspiration

• Write a four stanza poem which refelcts the photo, its theme and your own imagination

• Your poem DOES NOT have to rhyme• When finished writing your poem, either

type it out or write it on a clean piece of paper or stationary, in pen.