Can someone teach me about Iambic Meter in Poetry?

Question: Can someone teach me about Iambic Meter in Poetry!?

I can't understand Iambic Pentameter or Rhythm Variation to save my life!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

When we speak English, we naturally stress certain syllables more than others!. Poetry simply arranges those natural stresses into patterns!.

The difference between stressed and unstressed syllables can be pretty subtle, and we take the rhythms of everyday speech so much for granted, that it's easy not to notice that the different degrees of stress are there!. But with a little practice, you can train your ear to hear them!.

Say the word "surprise" out loud!. You'll hear that you hit the second syllable a bit harder than the first -- sur PRISE, not SUR prise!. (Say it both ways!. You'll hear how different the word sounds when you put the stress on the wrong syllable!.)

Same with the word "forget" -- for GET, not FOR get!.

In poetry, that pattern -- an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable -- is called an iamb!. Five iambs in a row make up a line of iambic pentameter!. A couple of examples:

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks!?

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun

Say each of those lines aloud and notice the stress pattern:

but SOFT/what LIGHT/through YON/der WIN/dow BREAKS

my MIS/tress' EYES/are NOTH/ing LIKE/the SUN

Now try reversing the stresses and hear how weird and wrong the lines sound:

BUT soft/WHAT light/THROUGH yon/DER win/DOW breaks

MY mis/TRESS' eyes/ARE noth/ING like/THE sun

(Naturally, it's an oversimplification to say that there are only two degrees of stress, as represented above by lower-case and upper-case syllables!. In natural speech, we don't hit every stressed syllable with exactly the same force, and we don't give exactly the same light touch to every unstressed syllable!. When you hear good actors speaking Shakespeare's lines on stage, the iambic pentameter doesn't sound sing-songy and monotonous as if it were being recited by a robot who alternates mechanically between unstressed and stressed syllables!. But when you're just learning to hear the rhythm, it helps to exaggerate a bit!. When you get more used to iambic pentameter, you won't have to overdo the da-DUM da-DUM pattern quite so much!.)Www@QuestionHome@Com

An iamb is a poetic foot (two syllables) were the first syllable is absent of a stress (or has a very light stress) and the second syllable has the heavy stress, giving it an upward moving feel!.

*CAPITALS mark stressed syllables*

First example is iambic pentameter (five feet)

that TIME / of YEAR / thou MAYST / in ME / be HOLD

-- from Shakespeare's Sonnet 73

This example is trochaic tetrameter(four feet) (the opposite of iambic because it is falling)

DOUB le / Doub le / TOIL and / Troub le

Hope that helps, but I suggest googling "poetry scansion"!. There are multiple helpful sites!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Iambic pentameter is on long sound and then a one short sound!. Shakespeare used it!. That's all I'm afraid!.Www@QuestionHome@Com