blank verse

[ blangk vurs ]

noun

1. unrhymed verse, especially the unrhymed iambic pentameter most frequently used in English dramatic, epic, and reflective verse.

blank verse

noun

1. prosody unrhymed verse, esp in iambic pentameters

blank verse

1. Verse written in iambic pentameter , without rhyme . Many of the speeches in the plays of William Shakespeare are written in blank verse; this example is from Macbeth:

   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. Out, out, brief candle!

   Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

   That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

   And then is heard no more: it is a tale

   Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

   Signifying nothing.

Word History and Origins

Origin of blank verse¹

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

"This is the biggest mountain because I was always worried about the iambic pentameter, about blank verse, and not being trained as an actor," he says.

From BBC

"He flicked through it and he went, 'Malvolio only has one speech in blank verse. The rest of it is prose.' And I was like, 'Oh, that's OK then.'"

From BBC

David Ferry, 99, a renowned poet and translator who transported modern readers to Gilgamesh’s Mesopotamia, to Horace and Virgil’s Rome and to a startling literary landscape that was entirely his own, rendered in blank verse that was supple and energetic, died Nov. 5 at an assisted-living community in Lexington, Mass. Across a nearly seven-decade literary career, Ferry worked as a poet, translator, critic and professor, chairing the English department at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and later teaching at nearby Boston College and Suffolk University.

From Seattle Times

I knew John Milton wrote those lines of blank verse I loved.

From New York Times

The theater piece is written in deliberately Bard-like blank verse and alludes to Shakespearean plots.

From Washington Times

Related Words

• ballad
• composition
• epic
• lyric
• poetry
• rhyme
• sonnet
• verse
• writing