Poetry to the use of interlocking stanzas is their use to separate thematic parts of a poem. For example, the strophe, antistrophe and epode of the ode form are often separated into one or more stanzas. In some cases, particularly lengthier formal poetry such as some forms of epic poetry, stanzas themselves are constructed according to strict rules and then combined. In skaldic poetry, the dróttkvætt stanza had eight lines, each having three "lifts" produced with alliteration or assonance. In addition to two or three alliterations, the odd numbered lines had partial rhyme of consonants with dissimilar vowels, not necessarily at
Theory (poem) in the first lines of Canto III, Stanza LXXII of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage": "I live not in myself, but I become / Portion of that around me." Theory (poem) "Theory" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, "Harmonium." It was first published in 1917, so it is in the public domain. Buttel interprets the poem as one of Stevens's attempts to approach the rhythms of prose, as part of a strategic understatement that moves into a poem in an offhand, 'anti-poetic' way. He sees that the instances must carry the strength of the theory, but he says