What is verse?

Famous quotes containing the word verse:

    “When I a verse shall make,
    Know I have prayed thee,
    For old religion’s sake,
    Saint Ben, to aid me.”
    —Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

    “Then my verse I dishonour, my pictures despise,
    My person degrade & my temper chastise;
    And the pen is my terror, the pencil my shame;
    And my talents I bury, and dead is my fame.”
    —William Blake (1757–1827)