Verse - disambiguation

From Awe

You searched for Verse. AWE treats various aspects of the word in different places.

The central meaning of verse has to do with the literary genre of poetry.

• For a discussion of the genre, go to poetry - prose. Verse, as a non-count noun is sometimes used in much the same sense as poetry - but AWE uses the two words in differing senses. For the distinction (which may be useful to students of literature), see poetry - verse.

The derivation of verse is the Latin versus, past participle of vertere 'to turn': "(so named from turning to begin another line)" (OED). (For a special form of this, see boustrophedon. So a verse can be

• a single line of poetry. (See metre in verse and the category:prosody for more.
• A similar use is also made in identifying the smaller divisions of the Books of the Bible - see Chapter and verse.
• Confusingly, it can also be the name of a group of lines in a poem. A verse is a level of organization larger than a single line, but smaller than a whole poem. There may be several verses in one poem. AWE prefers the term stanza for this.
  • In song, the verse and the chorus is another way of expressing a similar distinction. Again, the verse is a repeated pattern, using different words; the Chorus is usually repetition of the same (or nearly the same) words. It is common for a soloist to sing the verse, while the whole company sings the Chorus. This also known as a Refrain.

The abbreviation for 'verse', both as 'line' and 'stanza' is v., with an [optional] plural vv. See further at v - vv - vs.

• You may want an explanation of the phrase chapter and verse and its extended meanings.