Question Home

Position:Home>Theater & Acting> What is a "blank verse"?


Question:I'm filling out some definitions/terms for a homework assignment. It's on Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. What does it mean?
Full stars to the most helpful answer =]
Thanks!!


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I'm filling out some definitions/terms for a homework assignment. It's on Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. What does it mean?
Full stars to the most helpful answer =]
Thanks!!

It's a poem that doesn't rhyme, but one that has its own rhythmic structure, called a meter.

Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse, using iambic pentameter. In the same way that a song has its own meter, iambic pentameter does too.

According to Wikipedia, iambic pentameter is da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM structure with stress placed on each alternate syllable. It gives the words a rhythm.

These days, most writing is done in "prose" which is completely unstructured in terms of meter and rhyme, which is what you would find in a novel or newspaper.