Blank Verse the Representative Genre of Western Poetry - With Early Examples

Abstract

Blank Verse is introduced in English by the Earl of Surrey in the 16th
c.in the translation of The Aeneid [1540] but it is proven that Surrey
took the inspiration from the Versi Sciolti [free verse] of Molza's
Italian translations of The Aeneid in 1539. The blank verse started/
evolved in the mid of 16th century. Due to the influences of Italian
poets, it was adopted by Spanish, French and English poets. In
English literature its important aspect is the contribution of specific
meter which is known as Iambic meter. In Urdu literature, some new
critics and poets under the influence of The Britishers tried to make
poem popular viz a viz Ghazal and tried to liberate the creativity from
the hard rules of Rhymes Scheme borrowed from Arabic and Persian.
In 20th century M. Hussain Azad and Abdul Haleem Sharar
contributed a lot to introduce and originate the Blank Verse. In this
joint research article the scholar and her supervisor have tried to
introduce some of its technicalities and earlier examples of the
founders of this Genre.