What is Blank verse?
The term '''Blank verse''' means [[poetry]] that does not use [[rhyme]]. Blank verse relies on the [[Meter (poetry)|meter]] of the lines in the poem to give structure, and to create the feeling of poetry as compared to [[prose]]. An example from [[William Wordsworth]]'s poem ''Michael'' shows the lack of rhyme and the strict meter in blank verse – each line sticks fairly closely to the pattern of iambic pentameter: : Upon the forest-side of Grasmere Vale : There dwelt a shepherd, Michael was his name; : An old man, stout of heart, and strong of limb. : His bodily frame had been from youth to age : Of an unusual strength: his mind was keen, : Intense, and frugal, apt for all affairs, : And in his shepherd's calling he was prompt : And watchful more than ordinary men. Many critics judge blank verse to be better than rhyme for serious subjects, and many poets have used blank verse for their most important works. [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] used rhyme in his early plays, but in his more mature works like ''[[Hamlet]]'' he preferred blank verse. [[John Milton]] wrote ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' in blank verse, including a note at the beginning of the poem saying that rhyming poetry was used to disguise badly written poems, [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Lord Tennyson]] used it for ''Idylles of the King'', and Wordsworth used it for ''[[The Prelude]]'' and ''[[The Excursion]]''. [[John Keats]] used rhyme in his ''[[Endymion (poem)|Endymion]]'', his first try at a major poem; for his second attempt, ''[[Hyperion (poem)|Hyperion]]'', he switched to blank verse. The longest poems in English literature are written in blank verse, for example ''The Fall of Nineveh'' by [[Edwin Atherstone]] or ''King Alfred'' by [[John Fitchett]]. This last is about 130 000 lines long.<ref>[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Fitchett,_John_(DNB00) Charles William Sutton, Fitchett, John.]</ref> Many [[20th century]] poets gave up both rhyme and the strict meter of blank verse to write [[free verse]]. == References == <references/> == Related pa