Essay On Development Of Blank Verse In Eigtheenth Century

Altaf Ahmed Sheikh

1

M.A (Hons.) English Literature

Assignment on;

"D e v e l o p m e n t o f B l a n k V e r s e i n 1 8 t h Century" Submitted to:

Sir Ghulam Hyder Baloach

Submitted by:

Al t af A hm ed Shei kh M.A (Hons.) English Literature Roll No. ENG/2K6/10 Institute of English Language & Literature. University of Sindh, Jamshoro. Dated;

April 22nd; 2009

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Altaf Ahmed Sheikh

2

M.A (Hons.) English Literature

Outlines Introduction Definition of Blank Verse Origin & Historical Development of Blank Verse Development of Blank Verse in Eighteenth Century Contribution of Popular Poets and Dramatists Conclusion

Introduction Blank verse is a genre of poetry and sub-genre of literature. It has regular meter but lacks proper rhyme. The meter most commonly used with blank verse is iambic pentameter. This verse form out of all the verse forms in English poetry is very close to the rhythm of everyday English speech. Therefore, since its inception into the English poetry, it has been taken into hands by many popular poets as an exclusively new form of versification. The form has generally been accepted as the best for dramatic verse in English and is commonly used for long poems whether dramatic, philosophical, or narrative.

Definition Unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter (ten syllables with the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth syllables accented) when grouped together are then called as Blank Verse.

Historical Background Blank verse has no any known or proclaimed father in its few hundred years’ history. Nonetheless, its first known use in the English language was by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey in his interpretation of the Æneid, an Italian translation in 1554. He may have been inspired by the Italian verse form of Versi Sciolti , which also contained no rhyme. An unknown author of Arden of Faversham (1590) is also entitled as disputed originator of this form of verse in English poetry. It was first used in a play by Sackville and Norton in Gorboduc (1561). Later on Christopher Marlowe and then William Shakespeare developed its potential greatly in the late 16th century. Some historians are of the opinion that Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential of blank verse, and also established it as the dominant verse form for English drama in the age of Elizabeth I and James I. But the major achievements in English blank verse were made by William Shakespeare, who wrote much of the content of his plays in this particular genre of poetry. Shakespearean blank verse was also followed and used with some success by John Webster and Thomas Middleton in their plays. Ben Jonson, [email protected] http://altaftheredmax.spaces.live.com

Altaf Ahmed Sheikh

3

M.A (Hons.) English Literature

meanwhile, used a tighter blank verse with less care in his great comedies ‘Volpone’ and ‘The Alchemist’. Blank verse had then been used mostly for narrative and reflective poems. John Milton, whose masterpiece ‘Paradise Lost’ is written in blank verse and some parts of ‘Paradise Regained’ too, raised blank verse to the higher degree of success. Blank verse was not much used in the nondramatic poetry in 17th century, but Milton used it in a novel way with much license and tremendous skill. He used the flexibility of blank verse, its capacity to support syntactic complexity, to the utmost level. Miltonic blank verse was widely imitated in the 18th century by such poets as James Thomson in his work ‘The Seasons’ and by William Cowper in his poem ‘The Task’. However, Romantic English poets such as William Wordsworth, Percy Byssi Shelley, and John Keats, although they all belong to 19th century, used blank verse as a major form of their literary works. And after them, Lord Alfred Tennyson became particularly devoted to blank verse, using it in his long narrative poem "The Princess", as well as for one of his most famous poems: "Ulysses". A detailed analysis of the 18th century, in which blank verse had experienced both ups and downs, shall be given into the next part of my assignment.

Development of Blank Verse in Eighteenth Century After the dexterous use of blank verse in 17th century, it was much less used in early years of 18th century. The emotions long suppressed in neo-classical age were now to be released in some form. The old love of form was thus replaced with the love for content and matter rather than form and manner. It is also believed that there was a reaction in the form which could possibly be the outcome of natural impatience of single monotonous form, notably heroic couplet by Pope. In this era, there were enough distinguished works of either dramatic or non-dramatic blank verse. In keeping with the desire for regularity, most of the blank verse of this period is somewhat stiff. It was an unfortunate on the part of Blank Verse that the dominant literary figures of this century at large, John Dryden and Alexander Pope had great love for heroic couplet and less admiration for Blank Verse. Hence, much of their work was produced in heroic couplet and less in Blank Verse. But some critics are of the opinion that great admiration for John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ was immediate cause of rise and spreading popularity of blank verse.

Contribution of Popular Poets & Dramatists The popular work of blank verse from this time was by James Thomson ‘The Seasons’ and John Dryden's great tragedy ‘All for Love’ and ‘The conquest of Granada’. Thomson’s another blank verse ‘Winter’ is also significant of the this age. But his ‘Sophonisba’ has some genuine flaws. Armstrong’s ‘Art of preserving health’ is considered technically weak despite having its own novelty of treatment by the poet. An example notable as much for its failure with the public and as for its subsequent influence on the form is John Dyer's ‘The Fleece’. Another work in Blank verse was ‘Night thoughts’ in 1742 by Young. Thus, apart from works mentioned above, there was Somerville’s ‘The Chase’, Blair’s ‘The Grave’, Dyer’s ‘The Ruins of Rome’ and Ackenside’s ‘The pleasures of Imagination’ in 1744. In the late eighteenth century, there was a poet who claimed his absolute closeness towards Miltonic verse not through his style but through uplifting [email protected] http://altaftheredmax.spaces.live.com

Altaf Ahmed Sheikh

4

M.A (Hons.) English Literature

of the subject he had undertaken. He was William Cowper, who ushered in a renewal of blank verse with his volume of kaleidoscopic meditations, "The Task", published in 1784 had expressed freedom of movement and fluency which no other poet in the century could claim. Almost all of the critics hold this similar dogma that after Shakespeare and Milton, William Cowper was the main influence on the next major poets in blank verse. There were few less popular dramatists in neo-classical age who wrote some of their works in blank verse to raise the status of this form of verse, but it was either the unfortunate on the part of blank verse or on their own part, that their composition could not meet standards of dignified blank verse and in return was declared as dull and disordered. Such writers include Otway, Southerne, Rowe and Lee, being most significant among all four. Lee’s chief work was ‘The Rival Queens’ and Otway’s popular literary piece was ‘Venice preserved’. Then it was Joseph Addison’s ‘Cato’ that revived the tradition of Miltonic style. Blank verse went under experimentation and several writers practiced multiple techniques in bringing in variety and modulation in this form of verse. Hughes’s ‘Siege of Damascus’ and Fenton’s ‘Mariamine’ are worth mentioning examples in that regard. Best known tragedy of the century ‘Douglas’ written by Home also had some fine blank verses in it. Nevertheless, the most praised blank verse of this age was written by Richard Cumberland in a serious blank verse drama ‘The Cormelite’ which was so good in rhyme that it had no match till the end of eighteenth century.

Conclusion The use of Blank Verse greatly increased in the age of Dryden (1660-1700) and then in the age of Johnson (1745-1798). Whereas, in the mid of both these ages came the age of Pope (1700-1745) in which blank verse had been in little turmoil because of the Pope’s unconditional love for heroic couplet. It is no wonder that while blank verse appears easy to write, good blank verse demands more artistry and genius than most any other verse form. The freedom gained through the lack of rhyme is offset by the demands for required variety. It is because of this that great writers including the greatest of all time, William Shakespeare preferred this form of poetry over all others. For blank verse, has its own charm for both – the poets & the readers equally.

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Altaf Ahmed Sheikh

5

M.A (Hons.) English Literature

Bibliography • • • •

‘A treatise on blank verse’ by Robert Shaw. ‘Meter in the English Poetry’ by Enid Hamer. ‘The Peguin Dictionary of Literary Terms’ by J.A. Cuddon. ‘Outline History of English Literature’ by William Henry Hudson.

Web Resources http://www.encyclopeadia.com/eng_lit/poetry/blankverse/intro.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meter_(poetry) http://www.brittanica.com http://www.cliffnotes.com/history/literature/eighteenthcentury.html

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