Shakespeare sometimes writes in verse, sometimes in prose. Verse is distinguished from prose by the relative regularity of its rhythm. The rhythm of a line is determined by the alternation of stressed and unstressed (accented or unaccented) syllables. In the name "Hippolyta," the second and fourth syllables are stressed (Hip pol yt a). In the first line of MND, "Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour," there is a regular alternation of five unstressed and five stressed syllables. This is a standard, but by no means invariable, unit of Shakespearean verse; it is called iambic pentameter (iambic is a Greek word for this pattern of alternating stresses, pentameter is a Latin word for five stresses in a line). Unrhymed iambic pentameter is called blank verse. On the page (including any pages you write for this course) a line of verse begins with a capital letter and ends at the appropriate point to indicate a line break; prose lines begin and end wherever the typesetter or your word processor dictates. Quotations of verse four or more lines in length should be indented and written exactly as they are in your edition; briefer verse quotations can be run-on into your own sentence structure and the line breaks indicated by a slash mark: "He says, 'Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour / Draws on apace. Four happy days bring in / Another moon. . . .'" (1.1.1-3). Whether you indent or run-on a quotation, you should observe the distinction between verse and prose. No single rule accounts for Shakespeare's choice to use one or the other. Prose tends to be associated with lower-class characters, but you will find exceptions to this rule as to all others.
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