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Analyzing and Interpreting Literature / Unit 8   AIL 0715 short lesson, about 20 seconds

Blank Verse as the Middle Case

Captions available

The idea

Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter: strict in metre, free of rhyme. It is closed in one respect and open in another, which is why unit six warned it against free verse. The anchor's blank-verse chapter uses Frost's Birches, published nineteen sixteen.

In practice

Strict metre, no rhyme at all.

Where people slip

Closed in metre, open in rhyme.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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