Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for heroic verse. Search instead for epic verse.

heroic verse

American  

noun

  1. a form of verse adapted to the treatment of heroic or exalted themes: in classical poetry, dactylic hexameter; in English and German, iambic pentameter; and in French, the Alexandrine. An example of heroic verse is

    Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring / Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess, sing!


heroic verse British  

noun

  1. prosody a type of verse suitable for epic or heroic subjects, such as the classical hexameter, the French Alexandrine, or the English iambic pentameter

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of heroic verse

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Of course, Lipsyte doesn’t provide a single word of of this life-changing, ruthless, heroic verse.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 11, 2019

If that were the case, then Paradise Lost would be written in heroic verse, which is not true.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various

Schipper relegates to a foot-note the suggestion that our heroic verse may have originated in a different way, either through an abridgment of the alexandrine or through an extension of the four-foot line.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald

It might, indeed, be employed as against that old heresy, not even yet entirely discarded, that smoothness of heroic verse was the invention of Waller.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald

The current form of English heroic verse appears to be the invention of Chaucer, who used it in his Legend of Good Women and afterwards, with still greater freedom, in the Canterbury Tales.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training