Poetry Question

[strider]

Assalamu alaikum

Is it possible to have a stanza containing only one line? I'm a bit confused as dictionary definitions define a stanza to consist of two or more lines but i'm sure i heard my teacher refer to an isolated line as a separate stanza.

InshaAllah, I will be really grateful to anybody who can shed any light on this.

Jazakumullah Khair.

 

[czgibson]

Greetings,

Good question.

If you're confused, and you don't know whether to call a single line a stanza or not, the simplest thing to do is just call it a 'single line' or an 'isolated line'.

That's the simple answer - here is one that's a bit fuller:

The term can be interpreted in both ways, depending on which definition you use. Normally, a stanza does consist of two or more lines, but it is also used to signify a division in a poem, so in that second sense one line on its own could be described as a stanza.

Here are a couple of definitions of "stanza", from two different dictionaries:

1. An arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.

2. One of the divisions of a poem, composed of two or more lines usually characterized by a common pattern of meter, rhyme, and number of lines.

See how one of the definitions says 'two or more' and one doesn't? This is to do with the fact that some of the terms in literary study have vague borderlines. For example: how short can a novel be before it's a short story?

Peace

 

[strider]

Thank you.

Could this topic be closed now,please?