Recap
Structure is the arrangement of the parts of a poem: lines, stanzas, sentences and the order of ideas. Line and stanza breaks contribute to the development and relationship of ideas, and structure shapes the reader’s expectations through the position of ideas. Always say what an arrangement does.
Key relationships
| Feature | What to ask | Possible effect |
|---|---|---|
| Line length | Is it long or short here? | Slows or quickens an idea |
| End-stopped line | Does the sense pause at the line end? | Weight, calm, finality |
| Enjambment | Does the sentence run on? | Speed, flow, urgency |
| Stanza break | What changes across it? | Turn, pause, new focus |
| Couplet or final line | What does the ending do to the rest? | Resolution, consequence, surprise |
| Order of ideas | What builds, what reverses? | Accumulation, narrowing, turn |
What you may assume
- A writer chooses where each line and stanza ends.
- The same feature (such as enjambment) can have different effects in different poems.
- Naming a form (such as a sonnet) is only the start of analysis.
Mistakes to avoid
- Counting stanzas or lines without saying what they do.
- Saying “enjambment makes it flow” without reference to the content.
- Ignoring what changes across a stanza break.
- Treating form as an unbreakable rule.
- Forgetting to link a structural claim to quoted lines.
Key terms
- Stanza: a group of lines set apart by white space.
- End-stopped / enjambed: a line that pauses with the sense / a sentence that runs over the line end.
- Quatrain and couplet: four lines / two rhyming lines, as in a sonnet.
- Form: the type of poem; structure is how the parts of this poem are arranged.
Sentence frames
- “The stanza break marks a shift from … to ….”
- “The enjambment in ‘…’ makes the reader …, matching ….”
- “By placing … last, the poem gives it the weight of ….”
Mini-example
Structure: one long enjambed stanza, then two short lines starting “Then”. Effect: the poem speeds up as the tide returns.
How questions ask about this
- “The stanza break most directly marks a shift from … to …”: compare the content on each side.
- “The enjambment in lines … most likely serves to …”: link the run-on to the content of the lines.
- “The final couplet differs from the preceding lines in that it …”: say what the ending does to the ideas before it.
- Constructed response: describe the arrangement, say what it does to the ideas, then say what the reader expects or understands.
Quick self-check
- What does the couplet of Sonnet 73 do that the quatrains do not?
- In “Low Water”, why might the writer make the second stanza from two short lines starting “Then”?
- What is the difference between structure and form?
Answers.
- It turns from the three pictures of decline to the addressee and states a consequence: that perceiving this makes love “more strong”.
- The short repeated lines break the calm into quick beats, so the structure speeds up as the tide does.
- Form is the type of poem (for example a sonnet); structure is how the parts of this particular poem are arranged and related.
Full explanations are in the study guide. Try the practice questions next.