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IAMBIC PENTAMETER

Learn the art of iambic pentameter with clear examples, including feminine endings, extra beats, and inversions. Test your skills and understanding with practice excerpts.

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IAMBIC PENTAMETER

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  1. IAMBIC PENTAMETER http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qv-sjQHgZ8 HOW TO DO IT 

  2. Iambic Pentameter has 10 syllables. • 5 unstressed, 5 stressed • “This holy shrine the gentle sin is this” • This ho ly shrine the gen tle sin is this • 1 iambic foot You must have 5 of these for it to be iambic PENTameter

  3. “Whose woods these are I think I know” • While this follows the correct rhythm… 1 2 3 4 Whose woods these are I think I know • It’s not iambic PENTameter because there are only 4 iambic feet

  4. Feminine Ending • Sometimes Shakespeare added an extra unstressed beat at the end of a line to emphasize a character’s sense of contemplation. This variation is called a feminine ending and Hamlet’s famous question is the perfect example: • To be, / or not / to be: / that is / the ques- / -tion Extra Beat

  5. FEMININE ENDING CONT. • If a line ends in a standard iamb, with a final stressed syllable, it is said to have a masculine ending. • If an extra lightly stressed syllable is added to a line, it is said to be feminine. To hear the difference, read the following examples out loud and listen to the final stress: • Masculine Ending: • u / • 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, • u / • Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. • Feminine Ending: • u / u • 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the housing, • u / u • Not a creature was stirring, not even a mousing.

  6. Inversion • Shakespeare also reverses the order of the stresses in some iambi to help emphasize certain words or ideas. If you look closely at the fourth iambus in the Hamlet quote above, you can see how he has placed an emphasis on the word “that” by inverting the stresses.

  7. Inversion Cont. • Occasionally, Shakespeare will completely break the rules and place two stressed syllables in the same iambus, as the following quote from Richard III demonstrates: • Now is / the win- / -ter of / our dis- / content. • In this example, the fourth iambus emphasizes that it is “our discontent,” and the first iambus emphasizes that we are feeling this “now.”

  8. Beat out the following to see if they are iambic pentameter or not! • Good pilgrim you do wrong your hand too much • I strike quickly being moved • Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night

  9. Beat these out and tell whether they are iambic pentameter or not • Or else beshrew them both • I say silver sound because musicians sound for silver • Oh pardon me for bringing these ill news • Oh, teach me how I should forget to think

  10. ANSWERS • Good pilgrim you do wrong your hand too much (YES) • I strike quickly being moved (NO) • Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night (YES) • Or else beshrew them both (NO) • I say silver sound because musicians sound for silver (NO) • Oh pardon me for bringing these ill news (YES) • Oh, teach me how I should forget to think (YES)

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