Each line of a poem is known as a verse.
From the Latin word versus , verse is the set of words that are subject to cadence (a certain rhythm) and measure (determined by the number of syllables). The verse is the first ordered unit (line) of a poem .
It is possible to distinguish between verse and prose , whose form and structure naturally take the language to express concepts and are therefore not subject to cadence and measure. Short stories and novels are usually written in prose.
Rhythm and meter of a verse
The rhythm of a verse is determined by the placement of stressed and unstressed syllables and by the formation of rhymes (the repetition of a sequence of phonemes at the end of each verse). The group of verses that form a fixed sequence thanks to their rhythm and rhymes is called a stanza .
As regards the metric of the verse, we should highlight the fact that it includes everything from the measure of the verse to the rhyme (type, number, letter...) as well as a series of very important rules. In this last case, we should refer to the synalephas.
Classification according to type
There are several types of verse: acatalectic , adonic , acute , alexandrine , asclepiad , catalectic , dactylic , echoic , leonine , pentameter and many others, which depend on their distinctive characteristics (type of rhyme, number of syllables, etc.). We speak of minor art verse to refer to that which does not exceed eight syllables, while a free or loose verse is that which does not form a perfect or imperfect rhyme with another.
Other important types of verses are the following:
Of major roundness, it is one that has eight syllables.
Of minor roundness, it is the one that has six syllables.
Hiante. As its name indicates, it is a verse that is identified because it contains hiatuses.
Llano. In this case, we can establish that this term is defined as the word that ends in a llana.
In Argentina, a verse is a lie.
Walt Whitman and free verse
Free verse, therefore, moves away from compliance with rhyme and meter patterns. In this sense, it is similar to the prose poem or poetic prose . One of the greatest exponents of free verse is the American Walt Whitman ( 1819 – 1892 ).
For some specialists, this author is the true father of both free verse and modern American poetry. Among his most significant works, which have become references in the literature of all time, we could highlight his poem entitled “Oh, Captain! My Captain!”. He wrote this in homage to the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, after he was assassinated while attending a performance at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. John Wilkes Booth, a member of the Confederate cause, was the one in charge of planning and committing this crime.
The term in the theatre and as a synonym for lie
We cannot ignore the existence of what is called the "verse company" . This is a term used to refer to those companies that exist in theatres and that are specialised in what would be declamation.
It is worth noting that in Argentina , the concept of verse is also used to name something that is false or that turns out to be a lie . For example: “The supposed international experience of this model is a verse: she never worked outside her province” , “Saying that the coach will resign in the next few hours is nothing more than a verse” .