blank verse

American  

[blangk vurs] / ˈblæŋk ˈvɜrs /

noun

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

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blank verse British  

noun

1. prosody unrhymed verse, esp in iambic pentameters

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blank verse Cultural  

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.

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Etymology

Origin of blank verse

First recorded in 1580–90

Compare meaning

How does blank-verse compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• blank verse vs. free verse

Example Sentences

To a fellow-passenger on a liner who asked Aiken: "What's your line?" he replied: "Blank verse!"

From Time Magazine Archive

Blank verse is his medium, but in all except the first prose is freely used for the speech of the uncultured persons.

From The Growth of English Drama by Wynne, Arnold

Blank verse was in disfavor in the eighteenth century and was regarded as prose.

From The Literature of Ecstasy by Mordell, Albert

Blank verse, left merely to its numbers, has little operation either on the ear or mind: it can hardly support itself without bold figures and striking images.

From Lives of the Poets, Volume 1 by Johnson, Samuel

Blank verse is a modification of the couplet by the simple omission of the rimes at the end.

From The Principles of English Versification by Baum, Paull Franklin

Related Words

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