What is Sapphic stanza?
'''Sapphic stanza''' is a strophe that is widely used in European poetry. It is of [[Greece|Greek]] origin and is named after the ancient Greek female poet [[Sappho]]. The stanza consists of four lines. Three of them are composed of eleven [[syllable]]s and the last one is made up of five syllables. In Greek verse the quantity of syllables is important—whether the syllables are long or short. In other languages, this is no longer significant. Sapphic stanza was adopted by Roman poets like [[Horace]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Q. Horatius Flaccus (Horace), Carmina|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0024%3Abook%3D1%3Apoem%3D2|publisher=Perseus Project|access-date=23 October 2016|language=la}}</ref> His popularity helped in expanding the use of the stanza and became common in many works of literature. The Sapphic stanza was extremely popular in Polish poetry from the 16th century.<ref>Wiktor Jarosław Darasz, Mały przewodnik po wierszu polskim, Kraków 2003, p. 143.</ref> In English however, is not used often. Among poets who experimented with it was Algernon Charles Swinburne.<ref>{{cite web|title=Prosody|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/prosody#ref503174|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica|access-date=23 October 2016}}</ref> : ''All the night sleep came not upon my eyelids,'' : ''Shed not dew, nor shook nor unclosed a feather,'' : ''Yet with lips shut close and with eyes of iron'' : ''Stood and beheld me.''<ref>{{cite web|title=Sapphics|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45302|publisher=Poetry Foundation|access-date=23 October 2016}}</ref> :: ''(Algernon Charles Swinburne, Sapphics)'' == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Poetry forms]]