stanza

Definitions

Borrowed from Italian stanza, meaning 'a stopping place, a room' — from Vulgar Latin stantia 'a standing, a place where one stands,' built on stāre. A poem's stanza is a 'room' you pause in before moving to the next.

Why It Means This

The same Italian stanza ('room') gives the architectural sense too. In poetry the metaphor is spatial: each stanza is a little room of meaning, set off by a blank line, that the reader steps through.

Common Collocations

• 1.opening stanza开篇诗节
• 2.final stanza最后一节
• 3.four-line stanza四行诗节
• 4.stanza break诗节间隔

Example Sentences

• 1.

  The poem's opening stanza sets a melancholy tone.

• 2.

  Each stanza has four lines and a steady rhythm.