Introduction

Although our literature class is divided into units that are based on genre (poetry, drama, diction) the lines that divide these categories are not hard and fast. In fact, there is quite a bit of overlap between them.

One area of overlap arises when we have plays that are written in poetic meter, as is often the case in Shakespeare. As you will see in the learning material for this activity, when Shakespeare wrote in poetic meter, his lines did not always follow a specific rhyme scheme, but often adhered to a designated meter. This kind of poetry that follows a pattern for meter, but not rhyme is called blank verse.

Blank verse has no fixed number of lines and can be written in any kind of poetic meter. Shakespeare often used iambic pentameter when he wrote in blank verse, but other poets and playwrights used different meter in blank verse for different effects.

Blank verse is often used in drama to create greatness for characters. Blank verse is similar to normal speaking patterns in English. It creates a formal, rhythmic pattern that lends musicality to the spoken words. As a result, blank verse often captures the attention of readers and listeners when a character is going to reveal important information.

What is Blank Verse?

Blank verse is a literary device defined as unrhyming verse written in iambic pentameter. In poetry and prose, it has a consistent meter with 10 syllables in each line (pentameter); where, unstressed syllables are followed by stressed ones, five of which are stressed but do not rhyme. It is also known as “unrhymed iambic pentameter.”

Features of Blank Verse

• Blank verse poetry has no fixed number of lines.
• It has a conventional meter that is used for verse drama and long narrative poems.
• It is often used in descriptive and reflective poems and dramatic monologues — the poems in which a single character delivers his thoughts in the form of a speech.
• Blank verse can be composed in any kind of meter, such as iamb, trochee, spondee, and dactyl.

Types of Blank Verse Poetry

• Iamb pentameter blank verse (unstressed/stressed syllables)
• Trochee blank verse (stressed/unstressed syllables)
• Anapest blank verse (unstressed/unstressed/stressed syllables)
• Dactyl blank verse (stressed/unstressed/unstressed syllables)

Short Examples of Blank Verse

1. The dreams are clues that tell us take chances.
2. The source of faith in happiness and
3. Daylight changes, and it is time to take
4. The night frost drips silently from the roof
5. Human cadences always searching for this
6. The moon takes its bath in lovely silver dust.
7. The buds luminous in white sway happily,
8. and sparkling valleys darkened by angst.
9. Only if mountains might give me a push
10. Only if sunrise lights could converse hope.

Examples of Blank Verse from Literature

The Earl of Surrey introduced blank verse in English literature in 1540. Milton, Shakespeare, Marlowe, John Donne, John Keats, and many other poets and dramatists have used this device in their works. Have a look at some examples of blank verse:

Example #1: Mending Walls (By Robert Frost)
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

This poem has no proper rhyme scheme. However, there is consistent meter in 10 syllables of each line. It is following the iambic pentameter pattern with five feet in each line. Only the first line is written in trochee pattern. All the stressed syllables are marked in bold.

Example #2: Hamlet (By William Shakespeare)

But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So far from cheer and from your former state,
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must. …

Hamlet gives us a perfect example of a typical blank verse, written in iambic pentameter. Shakespeare employed the deliberate effort to use the syllables in a particular way. He brought variation by using caesuras (pause) in the middle of the line, as in the third line. Shakespeare has other literary pieces that are also good sources of blank verse examples.

Example #3: Dr. Faustus (By Christopher Marlowe)

You stars that reign’d at my nativity,
Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,
Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist
Into entrails of yon labouring clouds, …
So that my soul may but ascend to Heaven …

Marlowe developed this potential in the late 16th century. Marlowe was the first author who exploited the potential of blank verse for writing a powerful speech, as given here. The pattern utilized here is iambic pentameter.

Example #4: Macbeth (By William Shakespeare)

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death …

William Shakespeare wrote verses in iambic pentameter pattern, without rhyme. Macbeth is a good example of blank verse. Many speeches in this play are written in the form of blank verse.

Example #5: Tintern Abbey (By William Wordsworth)

Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! And again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur. – Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs …
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
The day is come when I again repose …
This example does not follow any rhyme scheme, but it is written in blank verse with iambic pentameter patterns of unaccented and accented syllables.

Function of Blank Verse

Originating from Latin and Greek sources, blank verse is widely employed as a vehicle in English dramatic poetry and prose, to create specific grandeur. Blank verse has similarity to normal speech but it is written in a variety of patterns, which bring interruptions such as pauses. Therefore, the intention is to produce a formal rhythmical pattern that creates musical effect. Hence, it tends to capture the attention of the readers and the listeners, which is its primary objective.

“Blank Verse.” Licensed by Boundless under CC BY 4.0 https://literarydevices.net/blank-verse/
“What is Blank Verse?”. Licensed under Standard Youtube License https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVgUxyvqUFA

Summary

Blank verse elevates the language of a character and when spoken out loud in performance, it subtly invites the audience to pay closer attention to what the character is saying. Blank verse was often Shakespeare’s way of telling his audience that something important was about to be revealed, kind of the same way that soundtracks to movies or tv today tell us when something is about to happen. Although it is similar to the natural patterns of spoken English, the formality of blank verse lends musicality to language, without following a rhyming pattern. Blank verse also indicates the refined rhetorical skill of a character, which, depending on when and how a character employs blank verse, can help us to understand something new about the character. Blank verse, like stage directions and dialogue, is another tool that playwrights can employ to help determine how the play looks and sounds in performance.