Iambic Pentameter

The Rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain

IAMBIC - A foot is unit of rhythm in poetry and dramatic verse, and an iamb is a 2-syllable rhythm with one unstressed and one stressed.

PENTAMETER - Meter means the number of rhythmic units in a line of poetry. For example, if there are five units of rhythm, the meter is called pentameter; the prefix penta means five. Poets use monometer (one rhythmic unit per line), dimeter (2 per line), trimeter (3 per line), tetrameter (4 per line), pentameter (5 per line), hexameter (6 per line), heptameter (7 per line), and octameter (8 per line)

IAMBIC PENTAMETER - If a line is written in iambic pentameter, is has 5 iambs, or 5 iambic feet, for a total of 10 syllables.

Iambic pentameter is the most common rhythm pattern in English poetry. It echoes the natural beating of the heart and pleases the human ear.

“But SOFT, what LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKS.“

daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM

Ev-er-y Run-ning

Ev-er-y-one In-no-cent

Ne-ver E-ven-tu-al-ly

Al-ways

PRACTICE SENTENCESSilent wind dancer, playing in the mystique of the blue midnite moon Doctor Dee has met her match, a wicked woman from the town of Bath There was a group of warriors I guessedTo Maine their lives were full and very blessed I do not like green eggs and hamI do not like them, Sam I am Double Double Toil and Trouble Running, Running for the woods, I found a pot of golden coins Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, A group of travelers are off to findSome great adventures of the heart and mind