Editing Strophe (section)

{{Short description|First part of the ode; structural division of a poem}}
{{one source|date=April 2009}}

A '''strophe''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|t|r|oʊ|f|iː}}) is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the [[ode]] in [[Ancient Greek tragedy]], followed by the [[antistrophe]] and [[epode]]. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing [[stanza]]s of varying line length. Strophic poetry is to be contrasted with poems composed line-by-line non-stanzaically, such as Greek [[Epic poetry|epic poems]] or English [[blank verse]], to which the term ''[[stichic]]'' applies.

In its original Greek setting, "strophe, antistrophe and epode were a kind of [[stanza]] framed only for the music", as [[John Milton]] wrote in the preface to ''[[Samson Agonistes]]'', with the strophe chanted by a [[Greek chorus]] as it moved from right to left across the scene.