Division of poetic works into stanzas existed in a classical antiquity. In modern literary terminology this word designates group of the verses united by formal sign. This sign repeats in each group throughout all poem.
The term ""stanza"" - Ancient Greek origin. The word ""strophe"" means ""turn"". The Latin name of the stanza verso which remained in many Romance languages designated ""turn"" too. The fact is that in antique tragedies the huge part was assigned to chorus. The chorus during the chant bypassed an altar from right to left, spending strictly certain time for pronouncing the first part of the work. Then the chorus carried out turn and sang the following part which was called the anti-stanza. Then the chorus stopped and executed the third part. Antique verses had no rhyme. The rhythm and a tune were Stikhoobrazuyushchy elements. For this reason division into stanzas had huge value. Without it it would be very difficult to perceive verses. Directly from solemn chants there are antique odes. Some genres and in the latest times had the similar building. The stanza - a metric concept. It includes a certain number of verses. The number of feet in the same verses of different stanzas has to be identical too. There are also other distinctive signs - for example, the size, alternation of rhymes. Besides, the stanza represents the fragment finished on sense. If the sense does not keep within one stanza, it is connected to another. Larger periods can repeat in a certain order. Forms of the stanza are very different. However there are also traditional. They have the names. The biggest groups of stanzas - antique, east and Romance. The most popular antique stanza - Sapphic. It consists of three Sapphic verses and one adoniya which represents the shortened verse. The classical elegiac stanza, an alkeeva, a glikonova, an asklepiadova are not less known. Antique stanzas changed a little as in the majority of modern systems of versification the longitude of vowels is not a stikhoobrazuyushchy element. In Western Europe, Romance types of stanzas - an octave, the term, the sonnet, the canzone, the rondeau, riturnel, a triolet, the madrigal and others were created. Till a certain moment the verses were closely connected with music therefore forms of the stanza and genres of pieces of music were formed at the same time. Many forms for the first time appeared in the Italian poetry - for example, creators of canzones is considered to be Dante and Petrarch. The western and east cultures throughout centuries continuously contacted, and respectively, also new poetic forms got. In particular, the Moors dominating in Spain brought such stanza as a gazelle. It represents several couplets where the first line is rhymed with all even. The European poets used both kasyda, and makama. Usually in the stanza there are from two to sixteen verses. However also the periods of bigger length - for example, meet at Derzhavin. Long stanzas are divided into smaller parts. For example, in the well-known Pushkin ""oneginsky stanza"" three quatrains and a couplet with a pair rhyme are accurately traced.