Iambic Pentameter

Say this out loud.. da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum

Say it again… da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum

Now say the first line of Sonnet 18 in that pattern. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Where do we put the emphasis? Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Can you say the rest of the poem in that pattern? Say it out loud… Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Can you hear the rhythm? It is called… iambic pentameter … and Shakespeare wrote almost all his plays and poems in this pattern.

What does iambic pentameter mean? An iamb is a unit of measurement in poetry, with the emphasis on the second syllable. ia-mb da-dum

People don’t speak in iambic pentameter only when… They are ‘lowly’ people, like servants. Their speech is unusual in some way, e.g. the witches in Macbeth. … so it’s always significant when people aren’t speaking in iambic pentameter.

Metre is the name we give to rhythm in poetry. Pent is the Greek term for five. i.e. a pentagon is a five-sided shape

Sonnets: Shakespearean sonnets always follow the same metre, structure and rhyming scheme. Most sonnets are about love, but they can be about other things.

Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day? a Thou art more lovely and more temperate: b Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,a And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:b Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,c And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;d And every fair from fair sometime declines,c By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd: d But thy eternal Summer shall not fadee Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;f Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade, e When in eternal lines to time thou growest: f So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,g So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.g IF AND THEN IN CONCLUSION

Sonnet 18 If I profane with my unworthiest handa This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: b My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand a To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. b Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,c Which mannerly devotion shows in this;d For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,c And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.d Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?e Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.f then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;e They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.f Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.g Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.g IF AND THEN IN CONCLUSION