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verse form

verse form

1 7.0
A type of poem with a set number of lines and rhythm like a sonnet or haiku
  • noun
  • /ˈvɜrs fɔrm/
  • Literature
translation icon : forma poética
  • The teacher explained how the sonnet is a traditional verse form that consists of 14 lines.
  • traditional verse form

Examples

  • In addition to singing with a developmentally appropriate singing tone, matching pitch, performing echoes, listening for repeated phrases, understanding verse form, and identifying rhyming words, students will build phonological awareness, strengthen their understanding of prepositional language, and explore word relationships.

    Academic text (2015)
  • And his dry style grows more excited to reflect the danger facing the townspeople, both in its verse form and in actor Ray Collins's performance.

    Academic text (2016)
  • We see the contrast in the different verse forms MacLeish uses for the village women and for the announcer.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Instead of appalling us by its difficulty, the strictures of verse form encourage us to brilliant effort.

    Academic text (2017)
  • It's a very unusual verse form, just as she's famous for the dramatic line breaks which she reads right past, as you could hear in our example.

  • The verse form should never call attention to itself but instead should seem artless, spontaneous, effortless, unforced, graceful, and at ease.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Rather, Swinburne enjoyed playing with a multitude of verse forms, such as Sapphics, choriambics, and other varieties adopted from classical and Continental poetry.

    Academic text (2016)
  • In the first section, I show that Swinburne's roundels were a salvo in late Victorian prosodic debates regarding whether foreign verse forms could work in English.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The pantoum (rhymes with "zoom") began as a verse form called "the pantun" which originated in 15th-century Malaysia.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Rhyme royal and terza rima are not the only verse forms that may be read as deliberate rejections of ottava rima.

    Academic text (2003)

Synonyms

free verse
vsverse form
  • Literature
3 6.0

Poems that do not have regular rhyme or a steady beat

emphasizes having a specific metrical arrangement rather than irregular rhythm
Alcaic verse
vsverse form
  • Literature
9.9

A four-line stanza with a set rhythm used in ancient Greek and Latin poetry

is the general word for any poetic structure with a set metrical pattern
heroic verse
vsverse form
  • Literature
9.7

A pattern of long lines in poetry used for grand stories like epic poems

is the broad category for such metrical patterns in poetry
stichic verse
vsverse form
  • Literature
9.9

Poetry that uses lines of the same length and rhythm without stanzas

focuses on metrical arrangement rather than stanza division

How Structured

sestina
  • Literature
1 9.9
sonnet
  • Literature
29 6.2
verse form
  • Literature
1 7.0
blank verse
  • Literature
1 7.7
free verse
  • Literature
3 6.0

Surface Forms

verse form singular
verse forms plural

Morphology

verse + form

The meaning 'a particular structure or type of composition in poetry' is directly derivable from combining 'verse' (poetry) with 'form' (type/shape). This straightforward noun+noun compositional pattern is common in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The noun verse form joins verse, meaning a single line of a 'poem', and form, meaning a set shape or pattern, to create a clear image: a shape that gives a poem its lines and flow. So a verse form is a type of poem with a fixed pattern of lines and rhythm, like a haiku or a sonnet.