Iambic pentameter is a poetic meter used in Shakespearean sonnets. It consists of lines containing five iambic feet, with each foot having one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. A Shakespearean sonnet follows a specific rhyme scheme, including three quatrains (four line sections) followed by a heroic couplet, with the rhyming pattern abab, cdcd, efef, gg. The meter and rhyming patterns give structure and rhythm to the poem.
2. Meter
Ø Meter is the rhyming pattern of a poem
Ø The meter or rhyming pattern serves
two functions:
Ø It makes the poem more pleasurable
and intrinsically delightful.
Ø Meter makes the poem more
meaningful and becomes part of the
total meaning
3. Vocabulary
¢ Shakespearean Sonnet= Poems written in the form
of iambic pentameter. A Shakespearean Sonnet contains 3
quatrains and a heroic couplet written in iambic pentameter.
¢ Rhyming pattern of a sonnet = abab, cdcd, efef, gg
¢ Quatrain = a unit of 4 lines of verse in a poem
¢ Iambic Pentameter = a meter used in poetry composed of groups
of syllables called feet . Iambic Pentameter contained 5 feet in a
line of poetry. (10 syllables).
4. Vocabulary Continued
¢ Iambic = foot that is used
¢ Pentameter = five
¢ Iambic Foot = a pair of syllables
containing short/long or
unstressed/stressed syllables.
¢ Heroic Couplet = Two last lines at the
end of a Shakespearean Sonnet that has
two rhyming lines.
5. Rhyming Pattern
William Shakespeare 1609
My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun
My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun; (a)
Coral is far more red than her lips red; (b)
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; (a)
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.(b)
I have seen roses damasked red and white, (c)
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; (d)
And in some perfumes is there more delight (c)
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. (d)
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know (e)
That music hatch a far more pleasing sound; (f)
I grant I never saw a goddess go: (e)
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. (f)
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare (g)
As any she, belied with false compare. (g)
6. Meter/Feet
The Rhythm of a poem is expressed in feet or in syllables.
The syllables are either stressed or unstressed. The pair of
syllables (2) become a foot and in iambic pentameter there
are 5 feet or 10 syllables.
The syllables are either unstressed (~) or stressed (/). The
division of the feet are marked by this symbol (|). Sounds
like:
da DUM | da DUM | da DUM | da DUM | da DUM |
~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ /
7. Iambic Pentameter
Assignment
In your handout is a Shakespearean Sonnet #18 written in
iambic pentameter. Please mark the feet and rhyming pattern beside the
line of poetry and number the quatrains. Please mark the Heroic Couplet.
Use these symbols to mark your answers.
(|) to divide the feet
(/) stressed syllable
(~) unstressed syllable
Number the quatrains and identify the heroic couplet!
8. William Shakespeare Sonnet # 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough Winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
Any every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature s changing course untrimmed:
Buy thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
9. Shakespearean Sonnet Vocabulary Review
Instructions:
Match the terminology with the definition by filling in the
vocabulary word to complete the sentence.
Vocabulary
1. Iambic 2. Pentameter 3. Iambic Foot
4. Heroic Couplet 5. Iambic Pentameter
6. Rhyming Pattern 7. Quatrain 8. Shakespearean Sonnet
10. Complete the Sentences:
1. A ____________ consists of a unit of 4 lines of verse in a poem.
2.___________refers to the foot that is used in a rhyming pattern.
3.________________= five.
4.A pair of syllables containing short/long or unstressed/stressed syllables
is an ________________________.
5.Poems written in iambic pentameter are referred to as a ______________.
6.Typical of a Shakespearean Sonnet, the last two lines are referred to as
The __________________________.
7. In a Shakespearean Sonnet___________________is abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
8.A meter used in poetry consisting of 5 feet in a line of poetry or 10
Syllables is written in ________________________.
11. Summary
¢ Meter = the rhyming pattern of a poem
¢ Rhyming pattern of a sonnet = abab, cdcd, efef, gg
¢ Quatrain = a unit of 4 lines of verse in a poem
¢ Shakespearean Sonnet = poems written in iambic pentameter consisting of 3
quatrains and a heroic couplet
¢ Heroic Couplet = the last 2 rhyming lines of a Shakespearean Sonnet
¢ Iambic Pentameter = a meter used in poetry containing 5 feet in a line
¢ Foot = two syllables containing an unstressed ~ and a stressed / syllable
