Embedded Files
Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter, widely used in English drama and narrative. Its effectiveness comes from the poet's ability to vary stresses, use pauses, capture emotional nuances, and organize lines into coherent groups ("Blank Verse").
For further understanding, iambic pentameter is a rhythmic pattern in poetry consisting of five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables per line ("Iambic Pentameter").
These lines from Hamlet are written in blank verse (note the lack of rhyme and the consistent meter of unstressed/stressed syllables): "It is not nor it cannot come to good, / But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue" (Bergman).
To characterize blank verse, note that only metered poetry without rhyme qualifies as blank verse. (Bergman).
Here is a video to truly hear the stress, with more examples from Shakespeare's work:
(Freeman and Taylor).
Works Cited
Works Cited
"Blank Verse." Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2023, www.britannica.com/art/blank-verse.
"Iambic Pentameter." Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2023, www.britannica.com/art/iambic-pentameter.
Bergman, Bennet. "Blank Verse." LitCharts, LitCharts LLC, 5 May 2017, www.litcharts.com/lit/blank-verse.
Freeman, David T., and Gregory Taylor. YouTube, 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5lsuyUNu_4.
Valentýna Bechná, 523284
Page updated
Report abuse