Abstract

The blank verse as ›unbound‹ verse has been the object of lively discussions about the freedom of poetry since its emergence in the Renaissance. The basis of these discussions is the status of rhyme. Its absence opens up new possibilities of representation. Against the fetters of rhyme, blank verse is increasingly stylised as a form of freedom in the 18th century, according to the thesis presented here. This article focuses on the discourses on tragic blank verse throughout Europe up to 1800. It examines which poetological potentials are attributed to the form and the historical and political ideas associated with the rhymeless but classical verse.