Two qualities you should look out for in any poem that makes use of stanzas are:
- how regular the stanzas are in structure
- whether these stanzas constitute complete units of sense in their own right (usually marked by a full stop at the end) or whether the sense and syntax flow over from one stanza to the next
Regular versus irregular stanzas
To take the first of these qualities first, stanzas (like lines) create patterns that in and of themselves influence the manner in which we encounter and thus interpret the words and phrases they contain. We respond to a poem whose stanzas are all of the same size and structure differently from one in which these things might vary. A regular stanza structure, for instance, can convey the sense of a world, story, or mind-set that is likewise regular and orderly, whereas an irregular stanza structure can suggest the opposite. By the same token, a regular stanza structure can create in us a series of expectations about what is to come next that makes us all the more shocked, surprised but in any case affected when this regularity is suddenly abandoned in one or other stanza. An irregular stanza structure, on the other hand, might be more liable to keep us always on our guard, unable to relax or think we can take for granted what is coming next. In all these ways, as well as others, the division of a poem into stanzas invariably has an influence on the mind-set with which we read it.
In addition to helping to regulate the speed, smoothness and ease with which we move through the poem and thus encounter its individual words and phrases, the division of a poem into stanzas can also influence our perception of how its groupings of lines relate to one another.
To give just one of many examples of how it might do this, we are perhaps accustomed to think of a story or argument as a journey that begins at A and then progresses forward through B, C, and so on until finally it reaches Z. Of course, prose in practice has numerous ways of thwarting this pattern too, but in the stanza, poetry has a device for subverting such expectations that is distinctive to it alone. By repeatedly fitting groups of lines into the same pattern time and again, for instance, poetry has the option of working against any sense of progression and it can give the sense of someone banging their head against (say) the same point A time and time again.
End-stopped versus enjambed stanzas
Just as it is important to register whether individual lines in a poem are end-stopped or enjambed, so is it equally valuable to observe whether the same is true of whole stanzas. Here it may be helpful to recall once again the analogy between a poem and a house: it makes a considerable difference to the kind of life and set of relationships you can experience within a given house if you are able to sweep unimpeded by any doors from one room to the next or if you have to stop at regular intervals to open the door and then close it again behind you.
A closed door, though, is usually easier to interpret and know how to navigate than an open one. As was the case with the line, there are no hard-and-fast rules for determining how we are to behave or traverse the white space that opens out before us when one stanza breaks off in the middle of a sentence or phrase and then continues on at the start of the next. It has sometimes been said that we should treat the ends of such lines and stanzas as if we had just reached a set of traffic lights, with the light at the end of an enjambed line being set at amber, while the light at the end of an enjambed stanza has been switched to red. It is always worth trying this out and seeing if it provides a meaningful way of regulating your movement through a given poem, although it will never provide more than a starting point for your analysis. In the case of both the line and the stanza, you will have to co-ordinate your response to whether they are left open or closed with the specific topics they address and the sensations they evoke.
Finally – and in this sense too the manner we interpret stanzas is analogous to the manner we interpret lines – the stanza offers an alternative way of organising collections of words into discrete units of meaning from the phrase, the sentence and the clause. They may well end up affirming the sentiments expressed in the phrases, sentences and clauses they contain, but even then, by regulating the pace at which we encounter those other units of sense and at times isolating some of their individual elements, they will most likely have added nuance, variation and polyphony to those units in the process. At other times, of course, they might undermine or actively contest their familiar structures and meanings.
Exercise: R. S. Thomas’s ‘Comparisons’
One of the poems we are using as a case study in this module is R. S. Thomas’s ‘Comparisons.’ Earlier in the module, we conducted an exercise in which we sought to acquire a preliminary understanding of how this poem uses devices distinctive to poetry to create effects that would not have been available to it if it had been written in prose (if you have not yet completed that exercise, I recommend you do so now. You can find it here). After that, we focused in particular on the contribution the poem’s use and regulation of its lines contributed to its overall effect and meaning (see the bottom of this page).
The next stage is to see if you can assess the contribution the poem’s division into stanzas makes to its overall effect and meaning. Once you have done this for yourself, watch the following video in which I discuss my own ideas about the poem’s use of stanzas.
You can find a copy of R. S. Thomas’s ‘Comparisons’ here.
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