At first, even critics lacked objectivity, given unusually explicit verse (7)
I believe the answer is:
eclogue
'verse' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'at first even critics lacked objectivity given unusually explicit' is the wordplay.
'at first' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'even critics lacked objectivity given unusually explicit' is 'ECLOGUE'.
(Other definitions for eclogue that I've seen before include "country-specific text" , "Work on farm" , "Short pastoral poem" , "Poem about country" , "Bucolic" .)