>blank verse, iambic pentameter: 10, sometimes 11 syllables per line>dactylic hexameter: 12-17 syllables per lineBlank verse is inadequate for an epic poem. The line's too short, you can't fit enough storytelling per line into the meter. Homer and Virgil have more syllables-per-line to work with and so they can do more storytelling with their meter than Milton can.This is especially true when it comes to action. I love Paradise Lost but the fight scenes are clunkers, and I think Milton knows it too which is why there aren't many of them. None of the battles in the Iliad could have been accurately depicted in blank verse. Just look at Pope's Iliad, they're NOT accurately depicted in that.To write the perfect epic in English you need to use a different meter than iambic pentameter.
You don't give a whole thought or phrase per line idiot. You split it over multiple lines. In fact if your verses end with periods or commas, that's sign of bad verse. The end of phrases should not come at the end of line. I've never seen good poetry where the end of a line is the end of a phrase.
>>25555664It probably has a little more to do with the poets in question. Milton very quickly became known for his love of the sublime; Pope for his polished satire. However, neither one was overly focused on military life in the way that the early Greeks were. There's also the issue of liberties taken in translating Homer (although I'm no expert on the quality, or faithfulness, of the numerous options).Theoretically, a loose sort of blank verse should be very flexible as far as classic form goes. It's closer to the much older alliterative English verse, where there was no rhyme and the emphasis was on four good accents per line. A fluid approach to iambic pentameter approximates (in accentual-syllabic verse) much of this natural rhythm, despite the "strict" demand for five accents. Milton was following in the footsteps of the English dramatists in this regard.There have been various long poems in other consistent forms, as well. Ballads, dactyls, elaborate stanzas, hexameters, etc. But there's usually a sacrifice in terms of rhythmic variation or natural expression. I do somewhat see your point in terms of line length, although space isn't typically a huge problem these days. Plus, enjambment is frequently exploited to let the sense flow across subsequent lines. The blank verse masters played around with a lot of tricks.
learn to read poetry better
