We present a comparative study of the magnetic Brillouin spectra of arrays of stripe-structured Co layers and of continuous unpatterned Co films. These spectra mainly differ from each other through the occurrence of an additional line on the low-frequency side for the patterned films. This feature is related to magnetic eigenmodes arising from the uniform bulk mode of the continuous film when taking into account the magnetic anisotropy in the dipolar approximation: the simultaneous presence of magnetic anisotropy and of structuration is needed to allow for light scattering by such pseudobulk modes. In the case of continuous films the spectral profiles that contain lines related to both the Damon-Eshbach and to standing spin waves are quantitatively interpreted. An approach to the magnetic eigenmodes observed in the stripes is developed; it is derived from a calculation that uses the dipolar approximation and includes anisotropy for cylinders with elliptical cross section. Finally, the influence of the demagnetizing field upon the spectra of the patterned layers is evidenced and discussed.