Versicle

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

Peter Lewis Groves (Monash University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

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Versicle: a kind of free verse (q.v.) with longish endstopped lines frequently structured by repetition and variation of grammatical patterns, a form modelled rather loosely on Biblical parallelismus. Walt Whitman’s verse generally takes the form of versicles, as in these lines from “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”:

Others will enter the gates of the ferry, and cross from shore to shore;Others will watch the run of the flood-tide;Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and west, and the heights of Brooklyn to the south and east;Others will see the islands large and small

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157 words

Citation: Groves, Peter Lewis. "Versicle". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 June 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1434, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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