Cirrus@Austlit

'How poetry looks on the page matters. For English-language poetry based on conventional patterns of rhyme and rhythm, the line forms the basic structural unit. Each line contains a more or less fixed number of stresses or beats, and ends in a word that fits the overall rhyming scheme. The lines are then grouped into verses, each of which may follow a similar pattern or which may vary with the larger scale organisation of the piece. The tight linkage between visual structure and sound is so pervasive, we tend to take it for granted. Indeed, for many readers, this is what defines a “poem”.'(Introduction)