What structure is poetry written in?

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks about the structural units poetry is written in. Remember that prose and poetry are organized differently.

Step 2: Explain the concept

• Prose (novels, essays, short stories) is organized into sentences and paragraphs.
• Poetry is organized into lines and stanzas. • A line is a single row of words in a poem. It may or may not be a complete sentence. • A stanza is a group of lines arranged together, like a "paragraph" of a poem. Examples include a couplet (2 lines), tercet (3 lines), quatrain (4 lines) and so on.

Step 3: Work through the options

• A. Sentences and paragraphs: This is the structure of prose, so it is wrong.
• B. Sentences and stanzas: This mixes the two. Poetry can contain sentences, but the basic structural unit is the line, so this is wrong.
• C. Lines and paragraphs: Paragraphs belong to prose, so this is wrong.
• D. Lines and stanzas: Both terms are specific to poetry, so this is correct.

Step 4: Answer lines and stanzas**.

Exam tip: Remember the pairing: Prose = Paragraphs, Poetry = Stanzas. Lines are the building blocks of stanzas, just as sentences are the building blocks of paragraphs. Whenever you see "stanza" in the options, check whether "lines" goes with it.