Victorian Poetry · English Literature

Which Victorian poet is best known for the 'sprung rhythm' technique, which mimics the natural cadence of speech?

  1. Matthew Arnold
  2. Gerard Manley Hopkins
  3. Algernon Charles Swinburne
  4. Dante Gabriel Rossetti
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Correct answer: Gerard Manley Hopkins

Hopkins developed 'sprung rhythm' to break away from traditional iambic meters, basing his rhythm on the number of stressed syllables rather than total syllables. This gave his religious poetry a unique, jagged intensity.

Difficulty: Medium Question 3 of 20

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