Final Exam Notes

• Blank Verse
  • Introduced to England in the 16th century, blank verse consists of unrhymed lines of ten syllables each; with the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth syllables bearing the accents. This form can also be thought of as double iambic pentameter.
    
  • Blank verse is especially well-adapted to dramatic verse. Early masters of blank verse include Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and John Milton.


• (rhymed) Couplet
  
  • A rhymed couplet consists of two successive lines of verse with similar end-rhymes. Both the grammatical structure and the idea of the rhymed couplet convey a sense of completion.
    
  • Three common types of couplets are:
    
    • a closed couplet
      
    • an open couplet
      
    • a heroic couplet.
      
  • The predominant couplet in English is the heroic couplet. This type of couplet consists of two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter with a pause, usually in the middle of each line.