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Literature vocabulary · Poetry

Blank verse

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In literature, blank verse means: Poetry written in a regular meter, especially iambic pentameter, but without end rhyme.

In Turkish: uyaksız ölçülü şiir

How it is used

Used especially for English drama and narrative poetry. It lets writers keep metrical control while sounding closer to natural speech than rhymed verse.

Example sentences

  1. During the workshop, the tutor compared Shakespeare's blank verse with the rhymed couplets at the end of the scene.

    Here, blank verse refers to the main unrhymed metrical lines, contrasted with the special effect created by a later rhymed ending.

  2. Her article argues that the novel's dialogue slips into blank verse whenever the narrator describes moments of moral crisis.

    In this sentence, the term shows that prose can briefly take on the rhythm of metrical poetry without adopting rhyme.

Common collocations

  • write in blank verse
  • blank verse drama
  • blank verse line
  • unrhymed blank verse
  • poetryLiterary writing arranged in lines that uses rhythm, sound, imagery and often rhyme to express feelings and ideas in a concentrated way.
  • verseWriting arranged in lines with a rhythm, as opposed to prose; also a single line of a poem or a group of lines in a song.

More terms: Poetry

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