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Writer's pictureLakshmi

One Verse Every Week 'FEMININE-ENDING BLANK VERSE'


Women of all races posing in line
Not quite the feminine ending Shakespeare used in his verse!

A blank verse with a feminine ending is, not the standard ten-syllabic metre, instead, one more than the ten, ending with an additional unstressed syllable, making it a metre of eleven syllables. The eleven syllables are five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables, like five heart beats of dee-Dum, where one unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable, until it is a metrical feet of five beats and ten syllables and then an additional unstressed syllable.

Like in this line from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream:


When thou hast stolen away from fairy land, (II.i.434)
 
When thou | hast sto | len a | way from | fai ry | land

Or,



if the verse ends with one less syllable — a stressed syllable less than the usual five — making it a metre of nine syllables.

Here's an example from Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors:


Merchant of Syracuse, plead no more; (I.i.iii)

Merchant | of Sy | racuse| plead no| more

 

Next: TROCHEE

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