How To Write In Iambic Pentameter - Alexthewriterdot

ever notice how poetry crosses that very thin line in which it becomes either word vomit or extremely dull with no sense of rhythm?

Some poets prefer free verse so they can convey their message without having to come up with rhymes.

Some poets prefer blank verse where there is musical pattern within the poem but it still doesn’t rhyme.

Personally, I don’t like rhymes. Unless your readers sport Jammies and watch Winnie the Pooh, I don’t think they will be too thrilled with:

The dog had a frog.

Instead, there is a very good metrical pattern that automatically gives you that musical sense as well as the edge poetry often loses.

What is iambic pentameter?

Iambic pentameter is a meter in which you have five stressed and unstressed syllables in five metrical feet so here is an example:

The child slept softly in the winter cottage.

Unstressed = ¥

Stressed = £

¥£ ¥£ ¥£ ¥£ ¥£

Above you have five feet of unstressed/stressed pairs.

Sometimes there will be a break or missing stressed syllable at the end but in this meter, it is alright. The pattern can still connect and sound great. Here is an example:

A woman watched the sunset from her porch.

Sometimes you can mix them up because it is still following the five foot rule.

Now here is an example of a poem in iambic pentameter by William Shakespeare called Sonnet 12:

When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves, Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves, Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, Then of thy beauty do I question make, That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast as they see others grow; And nothing ’gainst Time’s scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

Tell me, did you learn something today?

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