BLANK VERSE (refers to absence of rhyme; probably from blank, laeking a part necessary for completeness, as e.g. in 'blank' cartridges, containing powder but no ball). Verse without rhyme. The typical line contains five feet, or measures, each measure having two syllables. A stress of the voice. varying in degree, comes regularly on the second syllable in each measure, though this stress is frequently thrown back upon the first syllable. Still greater ease of movement is attained by an extra syllable at the end of a line or before the caesura. Any measure may also contain three syllables, and measures occur in which there is only one syllable. This structure may be illustrated by Macbeth: This cos I tle hath I a pleas) ant seat; the air Nimbly I and sweetly re commands I itself nib) our gen tlesens I es. I This guest) of sum 'nor, etc.
Again: The haul I titfi I dinous seas inear I nadine.
The classical productions of the Greek and Roman poets—at least such of them as have come down to us—are composed without rhyme; and, accordingly, when the passion for imitating clas sical models set in, rhyme came to be looked upon as an invention of Gothic barbarism, and attempts were made in several countries to shake it off. The first specimen of blank verse in English is a translation of the second and fourth books of Vergil's .Eneid, by the Earl of
Surrey, who was executed in 1547; but it had been used by Italian and Spanish writers as early as about the beginning of that century. Surrey derived it from Italy. First employed in the drama by Sackyille in Gorboduc (1561), it was perfected by Marlowe and Shakespeare. It has since continued dominant in our poetic drama, if we except the effort made by Dryden and others, after the Restoration, to return to rhymed plays. But in other kinds of poetry, it was not till the appearance of Paradise Lost (1667) that it could be said to have taken root; and even then the want of rhymes was felt, as the poet expected it would be. Many poets have since followed Milton's example; and English narrative, didactic, and descriptive poetry is partly in blank verse, partly in rhymed couplets. Of recent poets, Tennyson and Browning have written the best blank verse. In Italian and Spanish it never became popular, and still less in French. But under the influence of the Eng lish example, it was introduced into Germany by Lessing and others. Consult: Mayor, Chap ters on English Metre (London, 1886, revised ed., 1901) ; and J. Sehipper, Englische Metrik, Part (Bonn, 1888). See RHYME.