Name: Period:

IAMBIC PENTAMETER
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. An iambic foot is an unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable. We could write the rhythm like this:
da DUM!
The word "pentameter" indicates that a line has five of these "feet". A line of iambic pentameter
is five iambic feet in a row:
da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM
We can notate this with a '˘ (Breve) mark representing an unstressed syllable and a /
(Backwards Slash) mark representing a stressed syllable. In this notation a line of iambic pentameter
would look like this:
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
This line from Act II, Scene II has been properly notated.
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

THE SONNET
A Shakespearean sonnet consists of 14 lines, each line contains ten syllables, and each line is
written in iambic pentameter in which a pattern of a non-emphasized syllable followed by an
emphasized syllable is repeated five times. The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, in which the last two lines are a rhyming couplet.
Practice: notate the following sonnet: Practice: Now write your own sonnet about one of
Sonnet #18
your favorite things and notate it:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (A)

Thou art more lovely and more temperate: (B) 1.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (A) 2.

And summer's lease hath all too short a date: (B) 3.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (C) 4.

And often is his gold complexion dimmed, (D) 5.

And every fair from fair sometime declines, (C) 6.

By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: 7.

(D)
8.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, (E)
9.
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, (F)
10.
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, (E)
11.
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, (F)
12.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, (G)
13.
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (G)
14.