See how long you can write without breaking the meter. Constraining your syllables may even cause you to reach for the thesaurus a few times no shame in that!
However, that makes it all the more valuable. In iambic pentameter, there are weak, intermediate, and strong stresses. Depending on how you arrange your words, some stressed syllables can become more prominent than others. Using this to your advantage can produce an unforgettable line, like this classic one from Hamlet :. To be or not to be that is the ques tion. And in this case, it creates a powerful effect. Shakespeare is known to throw in extra syllables, remove ones, or throw a few short lines into a longer piece.
He was particularly fond of six-syllable lines, which author George T. There are no iambic pentameter police who will stop you from rearranging, tinkering, or breaking the rules.
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Shakespeare is incredibly famous for writing a lot in iambic pentameter. But why did he choose to write in this specific style of having ten beats and 5 stressed syllables per line? Considering it was not at all a requirement for plays at the time and many poets wrote in a completely different meter? Wasn't this just making his life unnecessarily difficult considering the quantity of stuff he wrote in such a manner? Add comment.
Good question! Ask a question for free Get a free answer to a quick problem. Cite this Article Format. Jamieson, Lee. An Introduction to Iambic Pentameter. Spondee: Definition and Examples from Poetry. How to Read Shakespeare Dialogue Aloud. What Is Enjambment? Definition and Examples. Examples of Iambic Pentameter in Shakespeare's Plays. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for ThoughtCo. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page.
These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. A good student always keeps their eye out for times when the rules are broken. Well, the writer is drawing attention to the word or phrase that breaks from the norm, of course!
There are two main ways in which a piece of writing can break from iambic pentameter: in a line and in a section. Both of these draw attention to where the break happens and give it extra importance in the writing.
The stressed syllables are in bold. This is an important question. It is one of the main questions that define him as a character, in fact. Should he live or not? Hamlet is a suicidal hero and he lets us know by stressing this question.
So the word is important. Milton is drawing our attention to the negative! Because it suggests finality. This is the book of the epic where Adam and Eve eat the fruit and disobey God. With that, they lose Een and all of the perks of being there.
Shakespeare likes to use this one. In Hamlet , most of the low-class characters speak in prose, not verse. This is interesting because Hamlet starts to speak in prose, too! The fact that he switches to prose might show that he is too mad to think. In Macbeth , the witches do speak in verse. The stresses will be in bold again. It has eight syllables, not ten like in iambic pentameter!
But also the stress comes before the unstressed syllable in each pair! Not iambic either. So what is this break from the iamb saying about the witches? Clearly, Shakespeare broke from the rules for a reason. It must have a point to it!
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