Another distinction is that, in general, blank verse features more poetic compression than prose. For instance, Frost's "Birches" contains a mere 449 words. That is a good, healthy length for a poem, but it's equal to only one or two prose paragraphs in the average essay.
Incidentally, there's a discussion going on in Discerning Eye about Dennis Danielson's recent "translation" of Paradise Lost into prose.
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