Final answer:
In the Middle Ages, poetry often used metrical verse, with ballad and blank verse being two predominant forms characterized by meter and rhythm.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the Middle Ages, poetry contained mostly metrical verse, which refers to lines of poetry that follow a rhythmic structure and pattern.
Two popular forms of verse during this time were ballad and blank verse. Ballads, originating from folk traditions, often told stories and were typically written in quatrains with an ABCB rhyme scheme and alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. Conversely, blank verse is known for its use in more meditative and epic literature, like John Milton's Paradise Lost, and is characterized by unrhymed iambic pentameter. Both forms emphasize the importance of rhythm and meter in poetry.
While ballads were more connected to oral and musical traditions, blank verse became prominent in written form, especially during the Renaissance, and was a favored style among poets to express more complex ideas in a high literary style.