Verse is writing which uses meter as its primary organizational mode, as opposed to prose, which uses grammatical and discoursal units like sentences and paragraphs. Verse may also use rhyme and other technical devices that are often associated with poetry.

Not all verse is poetry. Generally speaking, what separates the two is that in poetry language achieves the highest possible level of condensation.

Holy books such as the Bible or Qur'an are divided into small verses. See Chapters and verses of the Bible and ayah.

Popular music

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In popular music a verse roughly corresponds with a poetic stanza. It is often sharply contrasted with the chorus or refrain melodically, rhythmically, and harmonically, and assumes a higher level of dynamics and activity, often with added instrumentation. See: strophic form, verse-chorus form and Thirty-two-bar form.

See also

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• Poetry for verse measures and forms.
• Free verse
• Alliterative verse
• Prose poetry
• Verse protocol is a networking protocol that replaces troublesome file transfers between graphics software with real time communication.
• Universe, of which "verse" is a slang term made popular on the internet by the television show Firefly.
• 'Verse as a replacement term for the word Cyberspace. As has been discussed elsewhere the term 'Cyberspace' has outlived its shelf life. This blog entry explains the rational behind the word 'verse as the replacement term to represent the collection of digital worlds that do or will co-exist with our physical world.

Formal sections

Verš | Vers | Verso | Verso | Vers | Стих | Wiersz | Verso | Стих