Poetry

====Lines and stanzas====
{{main|Line (poetry)|Stanza}}
Poetry is often separated into lines on a page, in a process known as [[line break (poetry)|lineation]]. These lines may be based on the number of metrical feet or may emphasize a rhyming pattern at the ends of lines. Lines may serve other functions, particularly where the poem is not written in a formal metrical pattern. Lines can separate, compare or contrast thoughts expressed in different units, or can highlight a change in tone.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|pp=7–13}}</ref> See the article on [[line break (poetry)|line breaks]] for information about the division between lines.

Lines of poems are often organized into [[stanza]]s, which are denominated by the number of lines included. Thus a collection of two lines is a [[couplet]] (or [[distich]]), three lines a [[tercet|triplet]] (or [[tercet]]), four lines a [[quatrain]], and so on. These lines may or may not relate to each other by rhyme or rhythm. For example, a couplet may be two lines with identical meters which rhyme or two lines held together by a common meter alone.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|pp=78–82}}</ref>

[[File:Alexander Blok - Noch, ulica, fonar, apteka.jpg|thumb|[[Alexander Blok|Blok]]'s [[Russian language|Russian]] poem, "''Noch, ulitsa, fonar, apteka''" ("Night, street, lamp, drugstore"), on a wall in [[Leiden]]]]
Other poems may be organized into [[verse paragraph]]s, in which regular rhymes with established rhythms are not used, but the poetic tone is instead established by a collection of rhythms, alliterations, and rhymes established in paragraph form.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|p=78}}</ref> Many medieval poems were written in verse paragraphs, even where regular rhymes and rhythms were used.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Middle English Literature: a guide to criticism |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-631-23290-2 |editor-last=Dalrymple |editor-first=Roger |page=10}}</ref>

In many forms of poetry, stanzas are interlocking, so that the rhyming scheme or other structural elements of one stanza determine those of succeeding stanzas. Examples of such interlocking stanzas include, for example, the [[ghazal]] and the [[villanelle]], where a refrain (or, in the case of the villanelle, refrains) is established in the first stanza which then repeats in subsequent stanzas. Related to the use of interlocking stanzas is their use to separate thematic parts of a poem. For example, the [[strophe]], [[antistrophe]] and [[epode]] of the ode form are often separated into one or more stanzas.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|pp=78–79}}</ref>

In some cases, particularly lengthier formal poetry such as some forms of epic poetry, stanzas themselves are constructed according to strict rules and then combined. In [[skald]]ic poetry, the [[dróttkvætt]] stanza had eight lines, each having three "lifts" produced with alliteration or assonance. In addition to two or three alliterations, the odd-numbered lines had partial rhyme of consonants with dissimilar vowels, not necessarily at the beginning of the word; the even lines contained internal rhyme in set syllables (not necessarily at the end of the word). Each half-line had exactly six syllables, and each line ended in a trochee. The arrangement of dróttkvætts followed far less rigid rules than the construction of the individual dróttkvætts.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture |publisher=Blackwell |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-4051-3738-6 |editor-last=McTurk |editor-first=Rory |editor-link=Rory McTurk |pages=269–280}}</ref>