amoebean verse

amoebean verses [a‐mĕ‐bee‐ăn], a poetic form in which two characters chant alternate lines, couplets, or stanzas, in competition or debate with one another. This form is found in the pastoral poetry of Theocritus and Virgil, and was imitated by Spenser in his Shepheardes Calender (1579); it is similar to the débat, and sometimes resembles stichomythia. See also flyting.

amoebean verse, literary form found mainly in bucolic poetry, for example in Theocritus and Virgil, consisting of couplets or ‘stanzas’ assigned alternately to two characters, usually in singing matches where the verses of one character are capped by the other.