How do I determine the number of stanzas and the number of lines per stanza in this sonnet?

V





Those hours, that with gentle work did frame


The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,


Will play the tyrants to the very same


And that unfair which fairly doth excel;


For never-resting time leads summer on


To hideous winter, and confounds him there;


Sap checked with frost, and lusty leaves quite gone,


Beauty o'er-snowed and bareness every where:


Then were not summer's distillation left,


A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,


Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,


Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was:


But flowers distill'd, though they with winter meet,


Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

How do I determine the number of stanzas and the number of lines per stanza in this sonnet?
Don't fret. Strictly speaking, there are not "stanzas" in sonnets. A sonnet is a 14-line poem, made up of different parts, that you will easily find if you look at the rhyme scheme of the poem.


Look at the line endings, and call the first rhyme A, the second B, etc...


For the beginning of this sonnet, you will find: ABAB.


Do the rest yourself and you will find the other parts. They have names too.


This may help you:


http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sonnet...





EDIT: look at this definition of a stanza. It is good, simple and you will understand:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanza
Reply:well,


the rhyme scheme is: abab, cdcd, efef, gg





i believe this is an English sonnet (bcoz of the rhyme scheme)





determing the number of stanzas: you can break it up using the ryhme scheme 4/4/4/2 and this is the most usual way. although, you can try splitting it up in terms of content. a set of lines may have different topics, but again, this might just be the same as 4/4/4/2...


hope that helps


:)



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