Verse (poetry)

A verse is formally a single metrical line in a poetic composition.^[1] However, verse has come to represent any grouping of lines in a poetic composition, with groupings traditionally having been referred to as stanzas.^[2]

Verse in the uncountable (mass noun) sense refers to poetry in contrast to prose.^[3] Where the common unit of verse is based on meter or rhyme, the common unit of prose is purely grammatical, such as a sentence or paragraph.^[4]

Verse in the second sense is also used pejoratively in contrast to poetry to suggest work that is too pedestrian or too incompetent to be classed as poetry.

Types of verse

Rhymed verse

Rhymed verse is historically the most commonly used form of verse in English. It generally has a discernible meter and an end rhyme.^[5]^[6]

    I felt a Cleaving in my Mind –
    As if my Brain had split –
    I tried to match it – Seam by Seam –
    But could not make them fit.

    The thought behind, I strove to join
    Unto the thought before –
    But Sequence ravelled out of Sound
    Like Balls – upon a Floor.
                                              —Emily Dickinson

Blank verse

Blank verse is poetry written in regular, metrical, but unrhymed, lines, almost always composed of iambic pentameters.^[7]^[8]

    Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
    Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
    Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
    With loss of Eden, till one greater man
    ....
                                              —John Milton (from Paradise Lost)

Free verse

Free verse is usually defined as having no fixed meter and no end rhyme. Although free verse may include end rhyme, it commonly does not.^[9]^[10]

    Whirl up, sea—
    Whirl your pointed pines
    Splash your great pines
    On our rocks,
    Hurl your green over us,
    Cover us with your pools of fir.
                                              —H.D.

References

^ Rys, John Van; Meyer, Verne; Sebranek, Patrick (2011-01-01). The Research Writer, Spiral bound Version. Cengage Learning. p. 350. ISBN 978-1-133-16882-9.
^ "Definition of verse | Dictionary.com". dictionary.com. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
^ Wiktionary, "verse" (accessed 20 November 2020).
^ "Verse", "Types-Of-Poetry", Screen 1
^ Wells, William Harvey (1846). A Grammar of the English Language: For the Use of Schools. Allen, Morrill, and Wardwell. p. 199.
^ Camp, Elisabeth (2021-01-18). The Poetry of Emily Dickinson: Philosophical Perspectives. Oxford University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-19-065122-0.
^ Shaw, Robert Burns (2007). Blank Verse: A Guide to Its History and Use. Ohio University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-8214-1757-7.
^ Strachan, John (2011-07-07). Poetry. Edinburgh University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-7486-8079-5.
^ Greene, Roland; Cushman, Stephen; Cavanagh, Clare; Ramazani, Jahan; Rouzer, Paul; Feinsod, Harris; Marno, David; Slessarev, Alexandra (2012-08-26). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton University Press. pp. 522–25. ISBN 978-0-691-15491-6.
^ Hartman, Charles O. (2015-03-30). Verse: An Introduction to Prosody. John Wiley & Sons. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-470-65600-6.