Altaf Ahmed Sheikh 1 M.A (Hons.

) English Literature

Assignment on;

"D e v e l o p m e n t o f B l a n k V e r s e i n 1 8 t h
Century"

Submitted to:

Sir Ghulam Hyder Baloach

Submitted by:

Al t af A hm ed Shei kh
M.A (Hons.) English Literature
Roll No. ENG/2K6/10
Institute of English Language & Literature.
University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

Dated;
April 22nd; 2009

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 Altaf Ahmed Sheikh 2 M.A (Hons.) English Literature

Outlines
Introduction
Definition of Blank Verse
Origin & Historical Development of Blank Verse
Development of Blank Verse in Eighteenth Century
Contribution of Popular Poets and Dramatists
Conclusion

Introduction
Blank verse is a genre of poetry and sub-genre of literature. It has regular meter but lacks proper
rhyme. The meter most commonly used with blank verse is iambic pentameter. This verse form
out of all the verse forms in English poetry is very close to the rhythm of everyday English
speech. Therefore, since its inception into the English poetry, it has been taken into hands by
many popular poets as an exclusively new form of versification. The form has generally been
accepted as the best for dramatic verse in English and is commonly used for long poems whether
dramatic, philosophical, or narrative.

Definition
Unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter (ten syllables with the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and
tenth syllables accented) when grouped together are then called as Blank Verse.

Historical Background
Blank verse has no any known or proclaimed father in its few hundred years’ history.
Nonetheless, its first known use in the English language was by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey in
his interpretation of the Æneid, an Italian translation in 1554. He may have been inspired by the
Italian verse form of Versi Sciolti , which also contained no rhyme. An unknown author of Arden
of Faversham (1590) is also entitled as disputed originator of this form of verse in English
poetry. It was first used in a play by Sackville and Norton in Gorboduc (1561). Later on
Christopher Marlowe and then William Shakespeare developed its potential greatly in the late
16th century. Some historians are of the opinion that Christopher Marlowe was the first English
author to make full use of the potential of blank verse, and also established it as the dominant
verse form for English drama in the age of Elizabeth I and James I. But the major achievements
in English blank verse were made by William Shakespeare, who wrote much of the content of his
plays in this particular genre of poetry. Shakespearean blank verse was also followed and used
with some success by John Webster and Thomas Middleton in their plays. Ben Jonson,

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meanwhile, used a tighter blank verse with less care in his great comedies ‘Volpone’ and ‘The
Alchemist’.

Blank verse had then been used mostly for narrative and reflective poems. John Milton, whose
masterpiece ‘Paradise Lost’ is written in blank verse and some parts of ‘Paradise Regained’ too,
raised blank verse to the higher degree of success. Blank verse was not much used in the non-
dramatic poetry in 17th century, but Milton used it in a novel way with much license and
tremendous skill. He used the flexibility of blank verse, its capacity to support syntactic
complexity, to the utmost level. Miltonic blank verse was widely imitated in the 18th century by
such poets as James Thomson in his work ‘The Seasons’ and by William Cowper in his poem
‘The Task’. However, Romantic English poets such as William Wordsworth, Percy Byssi Shelley,
and John Keats, although they all belong to 19th century, used blank verse as a major form of
their literary works. And after them, Lord Alfred Tennyson became particularly devoted to blank
verse, using it in his long narrative poem "The Princess", as well as for one of his most famous
poems: "Ulysses". A detailed analysis of the 18th century, in which blank verse had experienced
both ups and downs, shall be given into the next part of my assignment.

Development of Blank Verse in Eighteenth Century

After the dexterous use of blank verse in 17th century, it was much less used in early years of 18th
century. The emotions long suppressed in neo-classical age were now to be released in some
form. The old love of form was thus replaced with the love for content and matter rather than
form and manner. It is also believed that there was a reaction in the form which could possibly be
the outcome of natural impatience of single monotonous form, notably heroic couplet by Pope.
In this era, there were enough distinguished works of either dramatic or non-dramatic blank
verse. In keeping with the desire for regularity, most of the blank verse of this period is
somewhat stiff. It was an unfortunate on the part of Blank Verse that the dominant literary figures
of this century at large, John Dryden and Alexander Pope had great love for heroic couplet and
less admiration for Blank Verse. Hence, much of their work was produced in heroic couplet and
less in Blank Verse. But some critics are of the opinion that great admiration for John Milton’s
‘Paradise Lost’ was immediate cause of rise and spreading popularity of blank verse.

Contribution of Popular Poets & Dramatists

The popular work of blank verse from this time was by James Thomson ‘The Seasons’ and John
Dryden's great tragedy ‘All for Love’ and ‘The conquest of Granada’. Thomson’s another blank
verse ‘Winter’ is also significant of the this age. But his ‘Sophonisba’ has some genuine flaws.
Armstrong’s ‘Art of preserving health’ is considered technically weak despite having its own
novelty of treatment by the poet. An example notable as much for its failure with the public and
as for its subsequent influence on the form is John Dyer's ‘The Fleece’. Another work in Blank
verse was ‘Night thoughts’ in 1742 by Young. Thus, apart from works mentioned above, there
was Somerville’s ‘The Chase’, Blair’s ‘The Grave’, Dyer’s ‘The Ruins of Rome’ and Ackenside’s
‘The pleasures of Imagination’ in 1744. In the late eighteenth century, there was a poet who
claimed his absolute closeness towards Miltonic verse not through his style but through uplifting

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of the subject he had undertaken. He was William Cowper, who ushered in a renewal of blank
verse with his volume of kaleidoscopic meditations, "The Task", published in 1784 had expressed
freedom of movement and fluency which no other poet in the century could claim. Almost all of
the critics hold this similar dogma that after Shakespeare and Milton, William Cowper was the
main influence on the next major poets in blank verse.
There were few less popular dramatists in neo-classical age who wrote some of their works in
blank verse to raise the status of this form of verse, but it was either the unfortunate on the part
of blank verse or on their own part, that their composition could not meet standards of dignified
blank verse and in return was declared as dull and disordered. Such writers include Otway,
Southerne, Rowe and Lee, being most significant among all four. Lee’s chief work was ‘The
Rival Queens’ and Otway’s popular literary piece was ‘Venice preserved’. Then it was Joseph
Addison’s ‘Cato’ that revived the tradition of Miltonic style. Blank verse went under
experimentation and several writers practiced multiple techniques in bringing in variety and
modulation in this form of verse. Hughes’s ‘Siege of Damascus’ and Fenton’s ‘Mariamine’ are
worth mentioning examples in that regard. Best known tragedy of the century ‘Douglas’ written
by Home also had some fine blank verses in it. Nevertheless, the most praised blank verse of this
age was written by Richard Cumberland in a serious blank verse drama ‘The Cormelite’ which
was so good in rhyme that it had no match till the end of eighteenth century.

Conclusion
The use of Blank Verse greatly increased in the age of Dryden (1660-1700) and then in the age of
Johnson (1745-1798). Whereas, in the mid of both these ages came the age of Pope (1700-1745)
in which blank verse had been in little turmoil because of the Pope’s unconditional love for
heroic couplet. It is no wonder that while blank verse appears easy to write, good blank verse
demands more artistry and genius than most any other verse form. The freedom gained through
the lack of rhyme is offset by the demands for required variety. It is because of this that great
writers including the greatest of all time, William Shakespeare preferred this form of poetry over
all others. For blank verse, has its own charm for both – the poets & the readers equally.

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Bibliography
• ‘A treatise on blank verse’ by Robert Shaw.
• ‘Meter in the English Poetry’ by Enid Hamer.
• ‘The Peguin Dictionary of Literary Terms’ by J.A. Cuddon.
• ‘Outline History of English Literature’ by William Henry Hudson.

Web Resources
http://www.encyclopeadia.com/eng_lit/poetry/blankverse/intro.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meter_(poetry)
http://www.brittanica.com
http://www.cliffnotes.com/history/literature/eighteenthcentury.html

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