IAMBIC PENTAMETER

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IAMBIC PENTAMETER
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v0Qv-sjQHgZ8

• HOW TO DO IT ?

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• Iambic Pentameter has 10 syllables.
• 5 unstressed, 5 stressed
• This holy shrine the gentle sin is this
• This ho ly shrine the gen tle sin is this
• 1 iambic foot
• You must have 5 of these for it to be iambic
  PENTameter

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Whose woods these are I think I know

• While this follows the correct rhythm
• 1 2
  3 4
• Whose woods these are I think I know
• Its not iambic PENTameter because there are only
  4 iambic feet

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Feminine Ending

• Sometimes Shakespeare added an extra unstressed
  beat at the end of a line to emphasize a
  characters sense of contemplation. This
  variation is called a feminine ending and
  Hamlets famous question is the perfect example
• To be, / or not / to be / that is / the ques- /
  -tion

Extra Beat
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• FEMININE ENDING CONT.
• If a line ends in a standard iamb, with a final
  stressed syllable, it is said to have a masculine
  ending.
• If an extra lightly stressed syllable is added to
  a line, it is said to be feminine. To hear the
  difference, read the following examples out loud
  and listen to the final stress
• Masculine Ending
• 
  u /
• 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through
  the house,
• 
  u /
• Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
• Feminine Ending
• 
  u / u
• 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through
  the housing,
• 
  u / u
• Not a creature was stirring, not even a mousing.

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Inversion

• Shakespeare also reverses the order of the
  stresses in some iambi to help emphasize certain
  words or ideas. If you look closely at the fourth
  iambus in the Hamlet quote above, you can see how
  he has placed an emphasis on the word that by
  inverting the stresses.

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Inversion Cont.

• Occasionally, Shakespeare will completely break
  the rules and place two stressed syllables in the
  same iambus, as the following quote from Richard
  III demonstrates
• Now is / the win- / -ter of / our dis- / content.
  
• In this example, the fourth iambus emphasizes
  that it is our discontent, and the first iambus
  emphasizes that we are feeling this now.

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Beat out the following to see if they are iambic
pentameter or not!

• Good pilgrim you do wrong your hand too much
• I strike quickly being moved
• Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night

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Beat these out and tell whether they are iambic
pentameter or not

• Or else beshrew them both
• I say silver sound because musicians sound for
  silver
• Oh pardon me for bringing these ill news
• Oh, teach me how I should forget to think

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ANSWERS

• Good pilgrim you do wrong your hand too much
  (YES)
• I strike quickly being moved (NO)
• Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night (YES)
• Or else beshrew them both (NO)
• I say silver sound because musicians sound for
  silver (NO)
• Oh pardon me for bringing these ill news (YES)
• Oh, teach me how I should forget to think (YES)