blank verse

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Wikipedia.

blank verse:

see pentameterpentameter
[Gr.,=measure of five], in prosody, a line to be scanned in five feet (see versification). The third line of Thomas Nashe's "Spring" is in pentameter: "Cold doth / not sting, / the pret / ty birds / do sing.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Blank Verse

(literally from the French vers blanc, which can be traced back to the English “blank verse”), unrhymed verse in syllabic and tonic syllabic versification.

Blank verse should not be confused with ancient metrical or Russian bylina (epic folk song) verse, for which rhyme was not at all characteristic. The similarity or alternation of fixed “closures” (the endings of the verse lines) plays the structural role of rhymes in blank verse. Because it lacks a rhyme system, blank verse is characterized by a lack of stanzas or weak stanzas and a great deal of freedom and verbal flexibility.

In Russia, blank verse was first used in syllabic versification by A. D. Kantemir and in tonic syllabic versification by M. V. Lomonosov. Blank verse was used by A. N. Radishchev (Bova and Ancient and Historical Songs; on blank verse, see his Journey . . . , the chapter “Tver’ ”) and V. A. Zhukovskii.

Blank verse (usually iambic pentameter) is associated primarily with dramatic genres (for example, Shakespeare’s plays; in Russian literature, A. S. Pushkin’s Boris Godunov and “Little Tragedies” and A. K. Tolstoy’s dramatic trilogy). Examples of blank verse in Russian poetry include Pushkin’s poem “I Visited Anew,” M. Iu. Lermontov’s “If That’s Your Voice I Hear,” and V. A. Lugovskii’s narrative poems “The Middle of the Century.”

blank verse

Prosody unrhymed verse, esp in iambic pentameters

References in periodicals archive ?

In 1807 Foscolo returned to Milan and published "Dei sepolcri" ("Of the Sepulchres"), a patriotic poem in blank verse, written as a protest against Napoleon's decree forbidding tomb inscriptions.

Foscolo, Ugo

He began with an effort in blank verse, Swords (1921), went on to adaptations from foreign plays, and then to collaboration with <IR> EDWARD SHELDON </IR> in Bewitched (1924).

Howard, Sidney (Coe) (1891-1939)

On the other hand, many longer poems written in blank verse or heroic couplets are not divided into stanzas at all, but consist of an unbroken flow of lines divided, if at all, into larger parts such as numbered sections or cantos.

Stanza

Gama showed himself to be a sensitive and original poet in breaking away from the strict epic model established by Luis de Camoes, Portugal's great 16th-century poet, and creating a Brazilian epic in blank verse.

Gama, Basilio da

Blank verse, formerly stiff and wooden, sprang to life in his hands; the splendid utterances of the Scythian conqueror earned Marlowe's verse the praise of " mighty line.

Marlowe, Christopher

Gorboduc (in full The Tragedie of Gorboduc) Blank verse play by Thomas Norton and THOMAS SACKVILLE, performed in 1561 and published in 1565 and, in 1570 with printing errors corrected, as The Tragedie of Ferrex and Porrex.

Gorboduc

The first edition of Tottel's Miscellany, published in June 1557, contained 40 poems by Grimald, including two early examples of English blank verse.

Grimald, Nicholas

Howard opposed Dryden's dedicatory epistle to The Rival Ladies (1664) that held rhyme to be better suited to heroic tragedy than blank verse.

Howard, Sir Robert

Jew of Malta, The (in full The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta) Five-act tragedy in blank verse by Marlowe, Christopher, produced about 1590 and published in 1633.

Jew of Malta, The

Kezilahabi's poems, such as those in Kichomi(1974; "Stabbing Pain"), caused controversy, for he broke with native tradition and became the first Swahili poet to write in blank verse.

Kezilahabi, Euphrase

Rashid, he was a leading poet of the group Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq, which broke away from the classic convention of Radeef and Qafia, explored the rich resources of blank verse and free verse.

Urdu poet Meeraji remembered

Narrated in blank verse by Declan, this sparse yet lyrical novel uses Ireland's ancient lore mixed with contemporary life to create a fantastical journey and a heartbreaking romance.