He wrote half of the verse (3)
I believe the answer is:
'he wrote' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'half of the verse' is the wordplay.
'half of' suggests halving the letters.
'the verse' becomes 'poetry' ('poetry' can be a synonym of 'verse').
'poetry' halved is 'POE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for poe that I've seen before include "Edgar Allan ---, poet more famous for his gothic short stories" , "Short-story writer" , "American short story writer" , "Edgar Allen, great American writer of eerie stories" , "Edgar Allan . . ., American writer of horror stories" .)