Your basic poetry handbook

Summary of verse forms
Other constraints
Feet note
Lines
Stanzas
 

FEET NOTE

amphibrach   • – • (di-da-di)
anapaest   • • – di-di-da)
dactyl   – • • (da-di-di)
iamb   – • (di-da)
spondee   – – (da-da)
trochee   – • (da-di)

 

LINES

dimeter: two feet
trimeter: three feet
tetrameter: four feet
pentameter: five feet
hexameter: six feet
heptameter: seven feet
octameter: eight feet
alexandrine: 12 syllables

 

STANZAS

distich: two lines
tercet: three lines
quatrain: four lines
cinquain: five lines
sestet/sextain: six lines
septet: seven lines
octave: eight lines
couplet: two rhyming lines that may form part of a longer stanza