Which poetic form closely resembles natural human speech?

Study for the MoCA Language Arts Test. Practice with flashcards and multiple-choice questions, each question has hints and explanations. Prepare effectively for your exam!

The poetic form that closely resembles natural human speech is blank verse. Blank verse is composed of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. This meter mimics the natural rhythm of spoken English, allowing for a more conversational quality in poetry. Since iambic pentameter consists of five feet, each containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, it aligns closely with the natural patterns of speech, making it sound fluid and familiar to the ear.

While free verse does not adhere to a specific meter or rhyme scheme and can mimic natural speech in a more liberated sense, it often forgoes the structured rhythm that characterizes blank verse. Other forms like dactylic and spondaic verse employ specific metrical patterns that do not align as closely with the natural flow of conversation. Dactylic verse uses a pattern of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, while spondaic verse consists of two stressed syllables, neither of which reflects the casual rhythm of everyday speech as effectively as blank verse does.

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