IAMBIC PENTAMETER

Sounds BIG and SCA ry, BUT what

DOES it MEAN?

Both written and spoken language use

rhythm - a pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables:
Hello, my name is Mrs. Hackney
What syllabus are stressed?
Hel/lo, /my /name /is /Mis/sus/Hack/ney
In everyday speech, the rhythm is
informal (has no set structure).

Iambs
An iamb is a metrical foot
that is made up of an
unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed one
Sounds like: da-DUM
(heartbeat)

Iambic PENTameter
What do you think of when you hear
the word-part pent?
Pentameter (penta = 5, think pentagon)
means there are five iambs.
So iambic pentameter is a kind of
rhythmic pattern that consists of
five iambs per line for a total of
10 syllables
Almost like five heartbeats:
daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM.

The following is a line from one of

Shakespeares most famous sonnets:
Shall I compare thee to a summers
day?

Count the syllableswhich are

stressed and which are unstressed?

Five
Feet!

Why do we care?
We care, because it impacts how you read
the play.
New readers have a tendency to pause at
the end of a line, whether there is reason to
or not!
You must read Shakespeare just like you
would read anything else and most
importantly
PAY ATTENTION TO PUNCTUATION!

This is an excerpt from Romeo and Juliet:

BENVOLIO:
I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword,
Or manage it to part these men with me.
It is ONE sentence!
So why is it on two lines?
Because it is written in iambic pentameter if hed
continued the line, there would be too many syllables.
I / do/ but /keep /the /peace: /put/ up/ thy
/sword,
Or/ man/age /it /to/ part /these /men /with
/me.

Shared lines:
Go with me to the vault.
BALTHASAR:
I dare not, sir
My master knows not but I am gone hence;
And fearfully did menace me with death,
Why
If I did stay to look on his intents. does
FRIAR LAURENCE:

line
s
i
h
t
start
way
ve r
o
pentameter.
?
here

Again, because it is Iambic

The two
characters are sharing the one line/ten syllables.

Is the whole thing written in

Iambic pentameter??
No.

Shakespeare writes either in:

blank verse, rhymed verse or in prose.
Verse another word for poetry
Blank Verse Iambic pentameter
Prose - regular writing in paragraph form. Often you
will see servants talking in prose.
This is to distinguish the upper class characters
who speak in verse (fancy) and the regular Joe who
speaks in prose (plain speech).

Rhymed Verse
BENVOLIO:
See, where he comes: so please you,
step aside;
I'll know his grievance, or be much
denied.