How did Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, introduce blank verse into English?

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, introduced blank verse into English literature by adapting the style from Italian humanist verse. Specifically, he employed this metre—which consists of unrhymed iambic pentameter—in his translation of Books II and IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, published posthumously in 1557 as Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aenaeis.12

By adopting this form, Surrey helped bring classical and Italian Renaissance metrical innovations to England, laying the groundwork for the future development of the English poetic tradition. Following his introduction of the style, other writers such as Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton later utilized blank verse for the first English tragic drama, Gorboduc.12