1. A study of literary devices
Term Tuesday
A study of literary devices

2. Blank Verse

3. Definition Unrhymed iambic pentameter
Because it approximates the natural rhythms of English speech, blank verse became the standard meter for poetic drama (as in Shakespeare) after its first appearance in 1540;

4. NOT THE SAME AS FREE VERSE
Free verse is poetry without rhythm and meter.
Blank verse has strict rules of rhythm and meter

5. Iambic pentameter
Consists of one short syllable followed by one long syllable: one unstressed syllable, by one stressed syllable is 'a measure of verse having five metrical feet.‘
U / U / U / U / U /

6. since Milton's use of it for his epic Paradise Lost (1667), it has been adopted for other types of poetry also (as by Wordsworth, Browning and Eliot).
An example is Adam's cautioning of Eve when she wishes to forage alone despite Satan's presence in Eden:

7. Paradise Lost by John Milton
U / U / U / U / U /
But God left free the Will, for what obeys
/ U U / U / U / U /
Reason, is free, and Reason he made right,
U / U / U / U / U /
But bid her well beware, and still erect,

8. U / U / U / U / U /
Lest by some fair appearing good surpris'd
U / U / U / U / U /
She dictate false, and misinform the Will
U / U / U / U / U /
To do what God expressly hath forbid

9. Writing your own 10 syllables U / U / U / U / U /
My son is sleeping in his room tonight
U / U / U / U / U /
He thinks of super heroes as he sleeps