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Iambic pentameter! I have read about the whole "da DUM..." thing but i just dont understand. Anybody help?

Please dont put definitions by copy and paste, Ive read all sites that have that same explanation. I just need someone to explain this to me in laymens terms. I wrote a sonnet poem with 10 sylables and fear its probably not within the iambic pentameter. So i will need to start all over again.


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: There are some rhythmic variations, but the basic pattern for iambic pentameter is as follows.

An iambic foot is two beats - emphasis on the second beat - da DUM.

Such as baseball - the emphasis is on the ball part.

So iambic pentameter is lines that contain ten beats - or five iambs.

I like to watch baseball with my family

The emphasis is on like, watch, ball, my, and ly.

See???

A Shakespearean sonnet is in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern done in 14 lines of three 4 line stanzas plus a couplet at the end - like such.

A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
E
F
E
F
G
G

Hope that helps. Pax - C