Drawing an Unusual
Comparison: Metaphor,
Simile, Extended Metaphor
and Stanza
Revising for Stanzas
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Revising for Stanzas
As you write, you pay attention to
organization without realizing you do.
Maybe you grouped certain lines
according to mood, time period or subject.
These groups of lines are called stanzas.
Revising for Stanzas
Stanzas are used to indicate a shift in
time, place, or subject or to create a
consistent pattern.
Both of the previous poems used stanzas.
One involving 9 line lengths each the
other used three lines.
Revising for Stanzas
But you do not need to have consistent line
length in your stanzas, but all stanza
breaks must indicate a shift or change.
The change or shift can be time, attitude,
subject, etc. It can be anything.
Stanzas and Rhyme Schemes
Sometimes stanzas are determined by the
rhyme scheme
Each line is assigned a letter. If the last
word rhymes with a previous line’s last
word, that line gets the same letter.
Rhyme Scheme
• Roses are red (A)
Violets are blue (B)
School isn’t bad for the head (A)
Neither are you. (B)
Set Stanza Forms
Some poetry forms do require a consistent form
for length such as sonnets and sestinas.
The English Sonnet is a poem form consisting
of 14 lines, each with ten stressed and
unstressed syllables known as iambic
pentameter, with a set rhyme scheme of: a b
a b c d c d e f e f g g.
Set Stanza Forms - Sonnet
XVIII (Sonnet 18)
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (a)
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: (b)
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (a)
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: (b)
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (c)
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd, (d)
And every fair from fair sometime declines, (c)
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd: (d)
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, (e)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, (f)
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, (e)
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, (f)
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, (g)
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (g)
---William Shakespeare
Set Stanza Forms
The sestina is an old fixed form of poetry, dating
as far back as the twelfth century. It consists of
six six-line stanzas and a three-line concluding
stanza. The ending words of the first stanza are
repeated throughout each subsequent stanza in
a set pattern. The same six words appear in the
concluding three-line stanza, two in each line.
See example at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/7086/rk
sestina.htm
Set Stanza Form - Sestina
Hogwash the Token Artist
The moment when he lifts the Porker prize
Would be the highlight of an artist's life.
Saul Hogwash comes so close to it each year
And misses it, by just a coat of paint.
Though there's no doubt of this pig's massive talent,
He will use watercolour for his art.
The short list features many kinds of art.
There's Tania Mulch, who won last year's prize,
A cowpat-sculpting sow whose major talent
Is publicising scandals in her life,
So that the portrait that the tabloids paint
Of her becomes more scarlet every year.
Book Examples
Plath’s poem “You’re” shifts in mood from
the first to the second stanza. The first
stanza is full of concrete images (turnip),
the second with uncertainty (a vague fog).
Wibur’s poem “The Writer” groups like
actions or ideas together in 3 line groups
(tercets). His grouping brings attention to
sentence length.
Book Examples
(Wilbur cont.) Stanzas 1 – 3 are single
sentences with a single action.
Stanzas 4 – 5 contain only one sentence.
Stanzas 6 – 10 show a sentence length that
keeps increasing in size. It is one long
sentence that describes the action of the
starling.
Last stanza is back to a short sentence.
Book Examples
(Wilbur cont.) Why would he do this? Was
it coincidence? Not.
He wanted to establish pace and create
tension much as the writing process does
the same thing.
Why Use Stanzas?
• Stanzas introduce white space and make
the reader pause.
• Pausing slows the pace if the poem.
• It creates tension, especially when the
reader must read several stanzas to get
one sentence.
Writer’s Practice 3.4
Writer’s Practice 3.4
Make sure you have emailed WP 3.3 BEFORE
you attempt 3.4.
Pay close attention to the instructions. It will make
you analyze your poem and practice with
another completed poem before attempting
yours.
Writer’s Practice 3.4
• Part A will help you analyze your poem by
answering a series of questions.
– Take your time
• Part B has you taking one poem and
breaking it into different stanzas twice.
– Each attempt should be completely different
– Do this on your own paper and be sure to turn
it in when you turn in your final pack.
Writer’s Practice 3.4
• Do not do the Write in Your Journal until
NEXT WEEK.
– Need time away from the poem
• The following slides are for Next Week. I’ll
link these so you can look back at them.
WP 3.4 Write in Your Journal
• Committing to a stanza length will force you to
reconsider a poem. It might not fit the
prescribed length. When reconsidering you
might find you do not need many of the details
you included.
• This will not ruin your poem. You might want to
hang on to a detail because you love the way it
sounds or it is clever. But, it might be hurting
your reader.
WP 3.4 Write in Your Journal
Examine your work from WP 3.3.
• Organize your work into stanzas
(computer will make this easier)
• Make your stanza length consistent (7
lines each, for example)
• The length of the lines is not important
WP 3.4 Write in Your Journal
Tips for stanza usage:
• Focus each stanza around a single action
or subject.
• Make shifts in time, place or subject at the
stanza break.
• Extend a single sentence across the
stanza break to speed the poem’s pace or
to create tension.
WP 3.4 Write in Your Journal
Revise your metaphor draft using stanza
decisions to clarify and cut the poem.
At this point, you may wish to name who
your “you” is. This will make it more
personalized or define the relationship if it
is unclear.
Look at Our Writer for more guidance.