Genre Studies- Unit- III Blank Verse

 BLANK VERSE:

Define

            “Blank Verse” is a literary term that refers to poetry written in unrhymed but metered lines, almost always iambic pentameter. “Iambic pentameter” refers to the meter of the poetic lines: a line of poetry written this way is composed of five “iambs”: group of two syllables that full into an 1 unstressed and 1 stressed pattern.

            Blank Verse consists of Iambic Pentameter (five- stress iambic verse) which are unrhymed – hence the term “blank”. Of all English metrical forms it is closest to the natural rhythms of English speech, yet flexible and adaptive to diverse levels of discourse; as a result it has been more frequently and variously used than any other form of versification. It was introduced by the Earl of Surrey in his translations of Book 2 and 4 of Virgil’s The Aeneid (about 1540), it became the standard meter for Elizabethan and later poetic drama; a free form of  blank verse remained the medium in such 20^th Century verse play.    

They strictly use meter and rhythm in their poetical lines. But, not rhythm scheme.

E.g.: Paradise lost by John Milton, Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.

It is used to write epic poetry, dramatic monologue, descriptive, reflective and narrative poetry.