What is Hopkins's main prosodic innovation called?

• A. Blank verse
• B. Free verse
• C. Sprung rhythm
• D. Iambic pentameter

Answer: (C)

Sprung rhythm is Hopkins’s main prosodic innovation. It moves away from a fixed metrical pattern by making each foot begin with a stressed syllable, yet allowing the number of syllables in that foot to vary. The length of the foot isn’t tied to a strict count, so lines can feel brisk and irregular, echoing natural speech and breath. This gives Hopkins’s verse a lively, dynamic pulse that isn’t shackled to a regular meter, while still retaining a sense of rhythm through the deliberate placement of stresses and the clipping of lines when appropriate.

This stands apart from other traditional options. Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter, which keeps a steady five-beat pattern. Iambic pentameter itself is a fixed meter with five predictable feet per line. Free verse abandons regular meter altogether but doesn’t adopt Hopkins’s rule of starting each foot with a stressed syllable and varying length. Sprung rhythm, by contrast, preserves a purposeful rhythm through stressed onsets while embracing irregularity in foot length, capturing the energy and immediacy Hopkins aimed for.