Iambic Pentameter Short and Sweet

Poetry can be measured? Verse is measured in “feet” Seriously! There are several types of feet. (big, small, smelly LOL) Feet are defined by stressed and unstressed syllables

Iamb Iambic refers to the type of foot that is used, which is one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable and pentameter refers to the fact that a line of the verse has five feet. An iambic pentameter has ten syllables with five pairs of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. Every pair of syllable is called an iambus. The rhythm of the meter is written as: da Dum

Iambic Pentameter A verse that has an iambic pentameter with five iambic meter will have a rhythm pattern as follows: da Dum da Dum da Dum da Dum da Dum “Ode to Autumn” by John Keats. To swell the gourd, and plump the ha- - zel shells da Dum da Dum da Dum da Dum da Dum

Variations? Yup. Has a feminine ending (unstressed syllable) To be or not to be that is the ques- -tion da Dum da Dum da Dum da Dum da Dum da Has a feminine ending (unstressed syllable)

For our purposes: Iambic Pentameter 1. Know that it is a type of measure 2. Know that it is a type of stressed and unstressed syllable scheme/pattern 3. There are usually ten syllables in the line 4. Used only in verse. Ex: Sonnets, other types of poetry, and in Shakespeare’s plays when royalty/important people, or the chorus is speaking

EXAMPLES!

“Sonnet XVIII” - William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 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:

“Holy Sonnet XIV” - John Donne Batter my heart three-personed God, for you as yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend. That I may rise and stand o'erthrow me and bend Your force to break, blow, burn and make me new.

Paradise Lost - John Milton Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed In the beginning how the heavens and earth Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God, I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar.

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene

“The Hind and the Panther” - John Dryden A milk-white Hind, immortal and unchang'd, Fed on the lawns, and in the forest rang'd; Without unspotted, innocent within, She fear'd no danger, for she knew no sin. Yet had she oft been chas'd with horns and bounds And Scythian shafts; and many winged wounds Aim'd at her heart; was often forc'd to fly, And doom'd to death, tho' fated not to die.