Iambic Pentameter - Simple Example

Simple Example

An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The rhythm can be written as:

da DUM

The da-DUM of a human heartbeat is the most common example of this rhythm.

A standard line of iambic pentameter is five iambic feet in a row:

da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

The tick-TOCK rhythm of iambic pentameter can be heard in the opening line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 12:

When I do count the clock that tells the time

It is possible to notate this with a "/" marking ictic syllables (experienced as beats) and a "×" marking nonictic syllables (experienced as offbeats). In this notation a standard line of iambic pentameter would look like this:

× / × / × / × / × /

The following line from John Keats' To Autumn is a straightforward example:

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

The scansion of this can be notated as follows:

× / × / × / × / × / To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

Read more about this topic:  Iambic Pentameter

Famous quotes containing the word simple:

    Even the simple act that we call “going to visit a person of our acquaintance” is in part an intellectual act. We fill the physical appearance of the person we see with all the notions we have about him, and in the totality of our impressions about him, these notions play the most important role.
    Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

    You think a wooden animal
    is a simple thing;
    it’s not.
    Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)