verse
Poetry's basic unit
Verse is writing arranged in lines with rhythm, meter, or rhyme—poetry as opposed to prose.
A verse can also be a single line of poetry, a stanza, or a numbered division of a chapter in scripture: Chapter and verse, please.
To be well-versed in something is to be knowledgeable about it.
As a verb, verse means to compose poetry or, in gaming slang, to compete against: I'll verse you in Smash.
Fourteen-line metered poem
- haikuJapanese seventeen-syllable verse
- limerickComedic five-line poem
- odeLaudatory verse form
- balladNarrative poem or song
epic · couplet · quatrain · sestina · villanelle · pastoral · acrostic · elegy
Two successive verse lines
- quatrainFour-line poetic unit
- sestetSix-line verse unit
- octaveEight-note interval
- tercetThree-line verse unit
refrain · canto · strophe · envoi · linebreak · enjambment · indentation · whitespace
Matching terminal sounds
- alliterationMatching initial consonants
- assonanceVowel sound repetition
- consonanceHarmonious sound combination
- imageryVivid descriptive language
metaphor · simile · symbolism · cadence · lilt · musicality · wordcraft · lineation
Authoritative reference work
- sutraEastern religious discourse
- testamentWritten proof or legacy
- psalmSacred scriptural song
- proverbTraditional saying expressing truth
epistle · gospel · chapter · passage · recitation · devotional · liturgy · canticle
sonnet
Fourteen-line metered poem
ballad · epic · couplet · quatrain · sestina · villanelle · pastoral · acrostic · elegy · rhapsody
couplet
Two successive verse lines
tercet · refrain · canto · strophe · envoi · linebreak · enjambment · indentation · whitespace · closure
rhyme
Matching terminal sounds
- alliterationMatching initial consonants
- assonanceVowel sound repetition
- consonanceHarmonious sound combination
imagery · metaphor · simile · symbolism · cadence · lilt · musicality · wordcraft · lineation · diction
bible
Authoritative reference work
proverb · epistle · gospel · chapter · passage · recitation · devotional · liturgy · canticle · hymnal
iamb
Two-syllable metrical foot
- trocheeStressed-then-unstressed foot
- dactylFinger, toe, or verse foot
- anapestTrisyllabic metrical foot
pentameter · hexameter · tetrameter · trimeter · scansion · foot · prosody · caesura · spondee · pyrrhic
chorus
Singers performing together
songwriter · anthem · ballad · hymn · libretto · aria · singalong · karaoke · liner notes · wordplay
- good versus evilCore ethical dichotomy
- vertical videosRecordings taller than wide
- blank versesRhymeless iambic pentameter lines
- well versedHighly knowledgeable through study
- cover versionReperformed song by another artist
- children's versePoetry for young readers
reverse, version, conversation, diverse, convert, universe, converse, vertical, advertise