Strophics

a division of prosody that deals with combinations of lines. Strophics generally includes the study of meters tending toward a regular (stanzaic) grouping of lines, and the study of such tendencies in line combinations as the truncation and rhythmic reduction of lines toward the end of the hemistich and stanza. Strophics also studies the size, structure, and division of stanzas and their intonational and syntactic completeness. In addition, strophics includes the study of such stanzas as the quatrain, sestet, octave, and Onegin stanza and of such fixed verse forms as the rondeau, triolet, and sonnet.