So far we have looked only at separate lines, noting their rhythm, length, sounds and rhymes. The arrangement of lines together is our next subject. Note this:


You see that it is iambic rhythm, five feet in each line, and that the lines follow one another without rhyme. This is what is called Blank Verse. It is the simplest arrangement of lines possible; yet it is usually conceded to be the most difficult to write well, from its very plainness and near approach to prose form. It is usually employed in plays and dramatic poems, since speech sounds more natural in it than in rhyme. That it is capable of great power and beauty, Shakespeare's plays bear witness. Occasionally four-foot iambic lines are unrhymed; so is dactylic hexameter as a rule. Other lines usually have rhyme. Next notice this :


You see that the rhythm and meter are the same as in Blank Verse, but that the lines rhyme in pairs. Lines rhymed in this way are called couplets; and when, as here, they are of iambic pentameter, they are called Heroic Couplets, from its frequent use in long narrative poems, such as Pope's translation of the "Iliad." It is a form that is apt to fall on the ear unless run-on lines are frequently employed, and the rhyming words are unusually fine. Couplets of shorter lines and other rhythms are frequently found.


This arrangement of three successive lines with one rhyme is called a triplet.

Any such group of lines, be it a couplet, a triplet, or of four or more lines, forming a regular division of a poem, is called a stanza.
A study of the poets will give one some idea of the great variety and the possibilities of the different kinds. For unusual and striking stanzas Kipling is exceptional.

A very simple stanza is this:


You will observe that the lines are iambic, the first and third of four feet and not rhymed, the second and fourth of three feet, and rhyming with each other. From its use by the early ballad writers this is called Ballad Measure. It is still used for simple narrative poems and little songs.
A similar stanza has the first and third lines rhymed, as well as the second and last. Another has all the lines of four feet. In fact, four-line stanzas, or quatrains, are made of all rhythms and line lengths. A familiar one is this, of iambic pentameter:


The quatrain used in 'In Memoriam" has a different arrange­ment of rhymes, the first and fourth rhyming together, and the second and third, thus:


Another quatrain is this:


In this case the fourth line rhymes with the fourth of the next stanza. A good five-line stanza is this:


There are other good five-line stanzas, and many of six lines, of which these two are good examples:



In all the stanzas given so far you see that the arrangement of rhymes is comparatively simple. One with a milch more intricate rhyme-scheme is this:


Notice, beside the order of rhymes, that the first eight lines have five feet and the ninth has six; the whole nine being iambic. This is called the Spenserian stanza, from its use in the Faerie Queene.

Songs and lyric poems and short narrative poems frequently have one or more lines repeated at the end of each stanza as a refrain. Sometimes the refrain is also used within the stanza, in which case it is usually but one line. A good refrain catches the ear, and goes far to insure the popularity of a song. The vogue of "Mandalay" is largely due to its capital three line refrain.

The stanza in verse corresponds to the paragraph in prose, and like it should embody one thought or part of the whole. Occasionally a sentence runs on from one stanza into another, especially when the stanzas are short ones, but as a rule it is best to end the sentence and stanza together.
The sonnet is an intricate verse-form generally used to em­body a serious thought or an impassioned mood. The rhythm is iambic, and the meter has five feet. The number of the lines is always fourteen. So far it is simple; the intricacy lies in the arrangement of its rhymes. Notice this example:


You see that the first eight lines, called the octette, are ar­ranged in two quatrains, and have but two rhymes, the first, fourth, fifth and eighth lines rhyming together, and the second, third, sixth and seventh. This arrangement of rhymes may be denoted by letters, thus, a, b, b, a, a, b, b, a. The last six lines, called the sextette, in this sonnet rhyme alternately on two rhymes, c, d, c, d, c, d. Sometimes the octette lines are arranged thus: c, d, e, c, d, e, or c, d, d, e, c, e, or c, d, e, c, e, d. There are other arrangements, also, of the sextette rhymes, Three rhymes are used for it more often than two.

The sonnet form given above is generally called the Italian, and is used in English by Milton, Keats, Wordsworth, and many others. The sonnet as used by Shakespeare is different in its rhyme scheme, though in nothing else. Its rhymes are arranged as follows: a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, e, f, e, f, g, g.

The sonnet should always have strong opening and closing lines, and a dignified and genuinely poetical sentiment and treat­ment.
The following sonnet by Shakespeare is often cited as one of the best; a careful study of it will teach the ambitious poet a very great deal.


In the last thirty years or so there has been a revival in English of certain intricate verse-forms used by early French lyric writers. A full account of these forms with many examples may be found in a volume called "Ballades and Rondeaus," edited by Gleeson White, and published by Appleton & Co. Of  these forms—the ballade, rondeau, rondel, triolet, chant royal, restina, villanelle, etc.—we can say but little in a brief article. They all have fixed laws of rhymes and refrains, and of number of lines, which make it difficult to avoid stiffness; they require exquisite skill. In the rhythms and meters considerable liberty is allowed; the ballade, for instance, may be written in trimeter, tetrameter or pentameter, and in iambic, anapaestic or dactylic rhythm. Frequently combinations of iambic and anapaestic feet are used, while dactylic lines generally end with a strong syllable, as in this example:


Notice that there are twenty-eight lines, arranged in three stanzas of eight lines and a quatrain called an "envoy," and but three rhymes are used in the whole, arranged in the eight-line stanzas, a, b, a, b, b, c, b, c, and in the quatrain, b, c, b, c. Observe, also, that the last line of each stanza is the same. This is called the refrain. Some ballades have another refrain—the fourth line of the eight-line stanzas and the second of the en­voy being identical.               

In the rondel two lines are used as a refrain, thus:


In the rondeau the first half of the first line is repeated as the refrain, thus:


Notice that the fourteen lines of the rondel have but two rhymes, and the thirteen of the rondeau—not counting the re­frain—but two. It is the necessity of finding rhyming words enough and of bringing the refrain in without marring the sense of the lines that makes these French forms difficult to write.

The shortest and lightest of all these short and generally light forms is the triolet. Usually it is witty, sometimes delicately tender or pathetic. Notice carefully the arrangement of rhymes and refrains: