Accentual-Syllabic Verse

Accentual-syllabic verse is based on counting both stressed and unstressed syllables. It uses specific patterns, such as iambic pentameter or the classical hendecasyllabic. Every syllable counts to create the proper rhythm and flow of the meter. Most of the verse forms that the English created based on Italian or French forms are accentual-syllabic. While blank verse is an exception, many other accentual-syllabic forms rhyme. Geoffrey Chaucer and his generation of poets were largely responsible for the fusion of the accentual of English and the syllabic of French into the modern English accentual-syllabic forms.

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