Iambic Pentameter?

[Cotyp08]

I'm taking English Lit next week and I was hoping someone could help me understand this. I've read several explanations and definitions and I'm still not getting it. I've seen examples of sentences, as well as the beat of an iambic pentameter, but I still can't point one out when I see it. I'm a little worried because this is the most basic/common type of structure and from what I've been told the English literature exam consists of almost half analyzing and interpreting questions. Has anyone else had this much trouble grasping this?

[SuzanneD]

No experience, but it makes me want to watch West Wing.:p

[SuZQ2]

I'm taking English Lit next week and I was hoping someone could help me understand this. I've read several explanations and definitions and I'm still not getting it. I've seen examples of sentences, as well as the beat of an iambic pentameter, but I still can't point one out when I see it. I'm a little worried because this is the most basic/common type of structure and from what I've been told the English literature exam consists of almost half analyzing and interpreting questions. Has anyone else had this much trouble grasping this?

I took this test 3 years ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy on how much knowledge of iambic pentameter was needed for my test. I know I used Shakespeare for Dummies and Poetry for Dummies to help me understand the various rhythm and measuring concepts.

Big clues for spotting iambic pentameter - It's always a line with 10 syllables - the first syllable being unstressed and the second syllable being STRESSED. An example of words that are iambs - "deLAY" or "reTURN". A line of iambic pentameter from Christopher Marlowe - was THIS the FACE that LAUNCHED a THOUsand SHIPS.

Here's an iambic pentameter YouTube video I found helpful... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0aAWuUX5jU

Hope this helps!

Good Luck on your exam!eeya:

[lavagirl]

Maybe this will help.

"Iambic pentameter consists of alternating five pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables and each line features ten syllables".

Iambic Pentameter Examples | Iambic Pentameter

[clep3705]

I've read several explanations and definitions and I'm still not getting it. I've seen examples of sentences, as well as the beat of an iambic pentameter, but I still can't point one out when I see it.

Sometimes in literature one must talk and hear, not see and look. If you haven't, I suggest reading iambic pentameter aloud. If you were taking English literature at a brick and mortar school, even a mediocre instructor would read aloud emphasizing the sound of iambic pentameter.

I once spoke to a student in a music course who was reading the book and not getting the tempo of the assigned music. Reading can be the wrong way to study!

I was going to write my reply in iambic pentameter, but it just wasn't worth the effort.

[Tedium]

I was going to write my reply in iambic pentameter, but it just wasn't worth the effort.

That made me laugh.

It really is a syllable/rhythm situation. You'll have to do some counting and reading aloud quietly to yourself, if you are having trouble identifying it.

Shakespeare wrote much of his literature in iambic pentameter. To hear how it sounds, listen to some recordings of people reading his sonnets. Find them online and read along so you can not only hear the rhythm, but see it.

On the subject of sonnets from Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor: "The miracle of the sonnet, you see, is that it is fourteen lines long and written almost always in iambic pentameter. I don’t want to bog down in the whole matter of meter right now,but suffice it to say that most lines are going to have ten syllables and the others will be very close to ten. And ten syllables of English are about as long as fourteen lines are high: square" (19).

That's a good book worth reading to help with easily understanding some really broad, but common concepts in literature. I enjoyed it and even found it helpful as an English major.

[charismo]

When I was going through the prepping for the AILit exam this was one video I found helpful understanding the meter stuff of poetry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ1S1cl8JOw

Also don't discount the stuff on Wikipedia. I was surprised how much I learned after this wiki about meter and rhythm of poetry:

Poetry analysis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[bluebooger]

https://youtu.be/udIUWa56_0I?t=1m45s

[Lindagerr]

These are some explanations from study resources I used for A&I lit. Sometimes reading the same info in several different ways makes something clearer.


Iambic pentameter A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line. (An iamb, or iambic foot, consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)

Good luck on the exam.


The Foot

The foot is the basic rhythmic unit into which a line of verse can be divided. When reciting verse, there usually is a slight pause between feet. When this pause is especially pronounced, it is called caesura. The process of analyzing the number and type of feet in a line is called scansion.

Some of the most common types of feet in English poetry are:

Iamb: An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: today

Dactyl: A stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables : difficult

Anapest: two unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable : it is time

Most English poetry has four or five feet in a line, but there may be as few as one or as many as eight.

Monometer: one foot
Dimeter: two feet
Pentameter: Five feet
Octameter : Eight feet

Accentual-syllabic meter is determined by the number and type of feet in a line of verse.

Iambic pentameter: Each line of verse has five feet(pentameter), each of which consist of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (iamb). It is one of the most popular metrical schemes in English poetry.

Ballad : alternating tetrameter( four feet) and trimeter (three feet), usually iambic and rhyming. Ballad form is common in traditional folk poetry and song.