BLANK VERSE IN PARADISE LOST

What is Blank Verse?

Blank verse is a type of poetry written in a regular meter that does not contain rhyme.

Blank verse is most commonly found in iambic pentameter.

Blank verse was introduced by Henry Howard in 16th century in England. Many famous English
writers have used blank verse in their works.

e.g Mendling walls by Robert Frost.

Hamlet and Macbeth by William Shakespeare etc

John Milton employed it in Paradise Lost in (1667).

Difference between Blank Verse and Free verse

There are some notable differences.

The definition of Blank verse is that there is no rhyme, the meter must be regular. Mostly found
in iambic pentameter while Free verse, on the other hand, has no rhyme scheme and no
pattern of meter.

How the poem is composed?

The poem has lines

Each line has foot

And foot made up of a Syllable.

Syllable: Syllable is a sound in a word, like the word Sleep has only one sound, A ma zing has
three sounds and the word Thank you has two sounds etc.

Types of Syllables
There are two types of syllables.

stressed syllables /Strong Syllables.

unstressed syllables/weak syllables.

Stressed Syllable
Stressed syllable is utter with greater effort or breath force, called stressed syllable

e.g APPLE , The word A is strong syllable, like baNAna Apply etc

Unstressed syllable
The unstressed syllable is oppose to stressed syllable, there will be no effort or breath in sound.

What is Foot?
Foot is a group of stressed and unstressed syllables or a combination of stressed and unstressed
syllables.

Types of foot
There are six types of foot.

1. IAMB: An iamb is a stressed syllable followed by a strong syllable

e.g. To sleep, Thyself etc.

2. TROCHEE: A trochee is a strong syllable followed by a weak syllable (exact opposite of an

Iamb)

e.g. Baseball, Thank you etc.

3. ANAPEST: An anapest is two weak syllable followed by one strong syllable.

e.g Understand etc.

4. DACTYL: A dactyl has one strong syllable followed by two weak syllables.

5. SPONDEE: Pattern of two stressed syllables.

6. PHYRRIC: Pattern of two unstressed syllable.

So these were the types of Foot, now let’s understand about number of feet in line.

Number of Feet
 One foot in line called Monometer.
 Two feet in line called Diameter.
 Three feet in line called Trimeter.
 Four feet in line called Tetrameter.
 Five feet in line called Pentameter.
 Six feet in line called Hexameter.
 Seven feet in line called Heptameter.
 Eight feet in line called Octameter.
 Nine feet in line called Nonameter.
 Ten feet in line called Decameter.
So the poem Paradise Lost written in an Iambic Pentameter by John Milton.