Defining Blank Verse

Blank verse is a form of poetry or dramatic verse that follows a regular meter, typically iambic pentameter, but does not have a rhyme scheme. The term arises from the Italian phrase verso sciolto, meaning poetry without rhyme. The form was first widely used in Italian poetry starting in the early 16th century for dramatic and epic poetry. In its sound, it resembles prose for its lack of regular rhyme patterns and can sound relatively natural, more like everyday speech.

Characteristics

Classic blank verse is generally written in iambic pentameter, with most lines containing ten syllables alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. To determine if a passage is in blank verse, try to read it aloud and listen for the regular rhythmic pattern of iambic pentameter:

It sounds like de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM

A pentameter line consists of five such rhythmic units or feet, with each de-DUM being an iambic foot. An iambic foot is made up of two syllables with the stress falling on the second syllable. Pentameter comes from the Greek word meaning five measures.

Historical Context

Blank verse in English originated in the mid-sixteenth century with Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, who invented an English form based on classical and Italian models for his translation of Virgil’s (c.1554) in unrhymed iambic pentameter. However, it was not until the end of the century that the unrhymed English pentameters of Howard’s were given a name. The phrase blank verse was first used disparagingly by Robert Greene in the preface to in 1588. Greene was the London writer and critic who labeled Shakespeare an upstart crow. The form remained mostly on the periphery of early modern English literary culture until the late 16th century, but gained popularity as dramatic and poetic works by Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare became successful.

Examples of Blank Verse

The use of blank verse in Elizabethan poetry was not limited to Shakespeare. For instance, Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton’s , was the first original English drama in blank verse and was performed for the Queen in 1561. George Gascoigne’s was the first original English poem in blank verse using iambic pentameter. Christopher Marlowe’s blank verse was also influential, emulated by other playwrights of the period, including Ben Jonson, who dubbed it Marlowe’s mighty line in his valedictory poem to Shakespeare that appeared in the in 1623. Shakespeare, who scholars such as Gary Taylor have recently demonstrated was writing in cooperation with Marlowe during this time, was undoubtedly influenced by Marlowe.

Take the first line of Christopher Marlowe’s 1592 play , which shows Faustus speaking of himself using blank verse:

Text reads: Settle thy studies Faustus and begin. There are stress marks over syllables for: tle, stu, Fau, and, and be. There are unstress marks over the rest.

Or the famous opening of Romeo’s address to Juliet as he stands in her family’s garden:

Text reads: Settle thy studies Faustus and begin. There are stress marks over syllables for: soft, light, yon, win, and breaks. There are unstress marks over the rest.

Read Romeo’s question aloud to hear the alternation of the unstressed (˘) and stressed syllables (/) that give the line its regular rhythm: de-DUM, de-DUM, de-DUM, de-DUM, de-DUM.

Shakespeare’s Use of Blank Verse

Shakespeare frequently employed this verse pattern and so well-known speeches, such as Henry V’s St. Crispin’s Day speech or the soliloquies, such as the first one in occur in blank verse. O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon gainst self-slaughter! O God, O God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! ( sc.2. 129–134)

Shakespeare became a master of blank verse but also expanded its creative capabilities. He began to craft blank verse that circled away from the stressed tenth syllable. Scholar Robert Stagg reports that one of his innovations was the use of so-called feminine endings, with about a quarter of the lines in ending with an unstressed eleventh syllable, such as in the line To be or not to be, that is the question. ( sc.8 57)

Stagg likewise reports that Shakespeare also used other innovations like shared line, which is when one character begins to speak and another responds to finish the iambic pentameter line late caesura, which is a break in the line towards the end of the 10 syllables capping couplets, which offers two rhyming lines at the end of a speech

Key Print Sources Hardison, O.B. . vol. 81, Summer 1984, pp. 253–274. Stagg, Robert. . vol. 72, no. 307, Nov. 2021, pp. 882–899. Taylor, Gary et al, editors. . Oxford University Press, 2016. Weiskott, Eric. . vol. 65, no. 4, Dec. 2018, pp. 494–495.

Key Online Sources Best, Michael. . . . University of Victoria, https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/literature/poetry/blankverse.html. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026. Ballard, Kim. . . 15 Mar. 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160320055121/https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/prose-and-verse-in-shakespeares-plays. Archived 20 Mar. 2016. Schwartz, Debora B. . . https://web.archive.org/web/20220131182255/http://cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/verseprose.html. Archived 31 Jan. 2022. Seigel, Robert, and Gary Taylor. . . National Public Radio, 24 Oct. 2016. https://www.npr.org/2016/10/24/499199341/christopher-marlowe-credited-as-shakespeares-co-author-on-henry-vi-plays. . . Academy of American Poets, https://poets.org/glossary/blank-verse.