Which poet from the mid-19th century is known for developing sprung rhythm?

• A. Alfred, Lord Tennyson
• B. William Butler Yeats
• C. Gerard Manley Hopkins
• D. John Keats

Answer: (C)

Sprung rhythm is about placing emphasis on stressed syllables and allowing varying numbers of unstressed syllables between them, producing a livelier, more speech-like cadence than a fixed meter. Gerard Manley Hopkins is the poet most closely associated with developing and popularizing this approach in the late 19th century. He reshaped rhythm by counting strong stresses and letting line lengths and pauses bend around those stresses, which gives his verse a sharp, energetic feel. You can hear this especially in lines that surge with the placement of emphasis rather than a rigid metrical pattern, such as in his poems The Windhover or Pied Beauty. Other poets from the period, like Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Keats, or Yeats, work with traditional meters or different innovations, but Hopkins is the one linked to creating and refining sprung rhythm.