What is iambic pentameter?
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GiraffeyedDonor-ish
ANSWERS: 4
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Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in poetry and drama. It describes a particular rhythm that the words establish in each line. That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups of syllables are called 'feet'. The word 'iambic' describes the type of foot that is used. The word 'pentameter' indicates that a line has five of these 'feet'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_soundmeter.html
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Iambic pentameter is a meter in poetry. It has an unrhymed line with 5 iambs or feet. Iambic means the stress is on the second syllable, an example is the word good-bye. Pentameter shows us that a line has 5 feet or clusters of two syllables adding up to 10 syllables a line. http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC030240/iambic%20_pentameter.htm Shakespeare’s sonnets are written predominantly in a meter called iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. An example of an iamb would be good BYE. A line of iambic pentameter flows like this: baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM. http://shakespeare.about.com/od/faqshakespearesworks/f/iambic.htm
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It's a form of poetry where the meter is a pattern of "unstressed-stressed" five times in a row -- "buh-DUMP, buh-DUMP, buh-DUMP, buh-DUMP, buh-DUMP." William Shakespeare used it in most of his sonnets and plays -- just read it out loud and you can hear the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables...: "In sooth, I know not why I am so sad." "If music be the food of love, play on." "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
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For most practical purposes, it's a line of poetry with ten syllables in it (which should really be called decasyllabics). To read things in a strictly iambic fashion is rather monotonous. For example: Shall-I com-pare thee-to a-sum mer's-day is not how modern (or even Shakespearean) readers would read this line. Lots of people would put a pause after "thee" (a caesura). Lots wouldn't, of course. :) But it's still in "iambic pentameter".
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