 | The examples and perspective in this article's lead and first section deal primarily with the United Kingdom and the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (February 2021) |
Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, usually in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century",[1] and Paul Fussell has estimated that "about three quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse".[2]
The first known use of blank verse in English was by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey in his translation of the Aeneid (composed c. 1540; published posthumously, 1554–1557[3]). He may have been inspired by the Latin original since classical Latin verse did not use rhyme, or possibly he was inspired by Ancient Greek verse or the Italian verse form of versi sciolti, both of which also did not use rhyme.
The play Arden of Faversham (around 1590 by an unknown author) is a notable example of end-stopped blank verse.
- ^ Jay Parini, The Wadsworth Anthology of Poetry (Cengage Learning, 2005), page 655.
- ^ Paul Fussell, Poetic Meter and Poetic Form (McGraw-Hill, 1979 revised edition), page 63.
- ^ Shaw, Robert Burns (2007). Blank Verse: A guide to its history and use. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0821417584.