Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act, art, or practice of composing poetic verse; the construction or measure of verse or poetry; metrical composition.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act, art, or practice, of versifying, or making verses; the construction of poetry; metrical composition.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun poetry The act, art, or practice of composing poetic verse; the construction or measure of verse or poetry; metrical composition.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a metrical adaptation of something (e.g., of a prose text)
  • noun the form or metrical composition of a poem
  • noun the art or practice of writing verse

Etymologies

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Examples

  • French, it may pass for a merit; since, to judge from the practice of the national poets, the French ear seems to be even better pleased with such strict identities of sound, at the close of corresponding lines, than it is with those definite mere resemblances to which, in English versification, rhymes are rigidly limited.

    Classic French Course in English William Cleaver Wilkinson

  • He has done well to emphasize the time element in English versification; but his attempt to reduce all forms of verse to a musical notation can hardly be regarded as successful.

    Poets of the South 1891

  • That Dr. Wilbur had sometimes employed his leisure in Latin versification I have ascertained to be the case, though all that has been discovered of that nature among his papers consists of some fragmentary passages of a version into hexameters of portions of the Song of Solomon.

    The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell 1855

  • Charles Montague was early destined for the Church, was entered on the foundation of Westminster, and, after distinguishing himself there by skill in Latin versification, was sent up to Trinity College, Cambridge.

    The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 4 Thomas Babington Macaulay Macaulay 1829

  • His versification is unaffected, flowing and elegant.

    Review of 'Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs' 1802

  • Pronunciation is just, when every letter has its proper sound, and every syllable has its proper accent, or, which in English versification is the same, its proper quantity.

    A Grammar of the English Tongue Samuel Johnson 1746

  • He soon showed wonderful facility in Latin versification, and his first work "De

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913

  • Poetry (though for a schoolboy of that age I was above par in English versification, and had already produced two or three compositions which I may venture to say were somewhat above mediocrity, and which had gained me more credit than the sound good sense of my old master was at all pleased with), -- poetry itself, yea, novels and romance, became insipid to me. "

    English Men of Letters: Coleridge 1871

  • Now it is plain that rhythm is one of the ultimate facts of nature and one of the universal principles of art; and thus versification, which is the study of the rhythms of verse, is both a science and an art.

    The Principles of English Versification Paull Franklin Baum

  • It is not often that natives succeed so well as you have done in English versification.

    Tales of Ind And Other Poems T. Ramakrishna

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