verse, stanza

verse, stanza
Verse is a term of several meanings, only one of which is fully accurate: "one line of a poem." The word verse comes from a Latin term meaning "a turning" and is correctly applied to the way in which one line of a poem "turns" into a new line. Verse is often confused with stanza, which is a succession of lines (verses) bound together by some scheme (usually a pattern of rhyme) and forming one of a series of similar groups that make up a poem."The curfew tolls the knell of parting day" is the first verse of the first stanza of Gray's famous Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. The poem contains 128 verses (lines) arranged in 32 stanzas.

Dictionary of problem words and expressions. . 1975.

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  • verse — 1 Verse, stanza both mean a unit of metrical writing. Verse is both wider and more varied in its popular usage since it can denote a single line of such writing, such writing as a class, or, along with stanza, a group of lines forming a division… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • verse — /verrs/, n., adj., v., versed, versing. n. 1. (not in technical use) a stanza. 2. a succession of metrical feet written, printed, or orally composed as one line; one of the lines of a poem. 3. a particular type of metrical line: a hexameter verse …   Universalium

  • verse — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. versification; poetry, prosody, poesy; line; stanza; meter, measure; poem, doggerel; passage. See part. II (Roget s IV) n. 1. [Composition in poetic form] Syn. poetry, poem, metrical composition,… …   English dictionary for students

  • stanza — See verse. See verse, stanza …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • verse — See verse, stanza …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • Verse — Verse, n. [OE. vers, AS. fers, L. versus a line in writing, and, in poetry, a verse, from vertere, versum, to turn, to turn round; akin to E. worth to become: cf. F. vers. See {Worth} to become, and cf. {Advertise}, {Averse}, {Controversy},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • stanza — group of rhymed verse lines, 1580s, from It. stanza verse of a poem, originally standing, stopping place, from V.L. *stantia a stanza of verse, so called from the stop at the end of it, from L. stans (gen. stantis), prp. of stare to stand (see… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Stanza — Stan za (st[a^]n z[.a]), n.; pl. {Stanzas} ( z[.a]z). [It. stanza a room, habitation, a stanza, i. e., a stop, fr. L. stans, p. pr. of stare to stand. See {Stand}, and cf. {Estancia}, {Stance}, {Stanchion}.] 1. A number of lines or verses forming …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Verse paragraph — Verse paragraphs are stanzas with no regular number of lines or groups of lines that make up units of sense. They are usually separated by blank lines.Verse paragraphs are frequently used in blank verse and in free verse …   Wikipedia

  • verse — [vʉrs] n. [ME vers < OE fers & OFr vers, both < L versus, a turning, verse, line, row, pp. of vertere, to turn < IE * wert , to turn < base * wer > WARP, WORM, WARDS] 1. a sequence of words arranged metrically in accordance with… …   English World dictionary

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