POETIC DEVICES

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POETIC DEVICES

• Beginners guide

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THE IAMB

• If you read most lines of Shakespeare you will
  notice a rhythmic pattern
• If music be the food of love, play on
• I have underlined the stresses and you will
  notice a de-DUM de-DUM pattern to the line.
• The de-DUM unit is called the IAMB EASY.

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De-DUM

• Try to write two lines, (a couplet) using this
  device five times in each line.
• If you are stuck, look around and write using
  what you can see in the room.

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Well Done

• You have just mastered the iambic pentameter, the
  King of poetic form in the English language.
• To celebrate, write another pair.

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The Trochee

• If you invert the rhythm, you get a trochee.
  Dum-de Dum-de,
• As in the line
• How I wonder what to do with Connor
• You can see that the stresses have shifted.

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Try a trochee couplet

• Go on, try

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Now

• Poetry based on these alone would be pretty dull
  actually.
• Lets look again at the first example
• If music be the food of love, play on.
• Does play ON sound odd?
• What happens if you say PLAY on?
• Is this still a line of Iambs?

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If music be the food of love, play on.

• If music be the food of love, play on.
• Shakespeare has slipped in a trochee to a line of
  Iambs cheeky devil.
• What separates the trochee from the iamb before
  it?
• The comma creates a breathing point and allows
  the speaker to shift emphasis easily. This break
  is called a CAESURA.

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Task

• 4 lines of Iambic pentameter.
• 4 lines of Iambic pentameter in which you may use
  a trochee instead of an Iamb for effect. You may
  well need a caesura (or a drink) to help.
• Give it a go treat it as a game and aim for a
  high score.
• For the really talented, an extra task
• 4 lines alternating Iambic and Trochaic
  pentameter.