Key concepts: Form and Structure

These terms are often used interchangeably, resulting in the loss of a very useful distinction. It is worth keeping these concepts apart. Knowing the difference will allow you to 1) gain analytical precision and 2) perceive aspects of a poem or passage that may otherwise remain hidden. This short article will help clarify the different usage.

Form

... relates to the external shape of a text, determined by how it is presented on paper, organised by stanzas/paragraphs, lines, syllables, rhyme, justification – best thought of as a silhouette. It is a simpler thing to comment on because it is usually visible.

Structure 

... is more interesting because it goes beyond the visible – it is a matter of the internal development and relationship between parts: structure is about the internal skeleton and organs – best thought of as an X ray or CT scan, displaying the organic relationship between ideas, feelings and attitudes within a text. 

Example of the distinction:

The form of a sonnet is its 14 line length, its 8 line/6 line division and its rhyme scheme. Within that form the structure may be 8 lines of description leading to 6 lines of reflection, generalisation, resolution; or the mood may go from neutral to sombre, or from sombre and resentful to accepting.



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