In the example below, one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets, he collapses several words with apostrophes so they fit within the requisite number of ten syllables per line: the two syllables of owest down one for ow’st, the three syllables of wanderest down to two for wand’rest, and the two syllables of growest down one for grow’st. Writing How to Write Iambic Pentameter With David Mamet Written by MasterClass Last updated: 3 min read Iambic pentameter, frequently taught in high schools using classic English poetry, is actually a mark of natural human speech patterns. In addition, sonnets have something called a volta (twist or turn.

Iambic pentameter also de-emphasizes the rhyme at the end of each line, since it falls on one of the regularly accented syllables, therefore giving it no more weight in the line than any of the other accented syllables. A sonnet is a short lyric poem that consists of 14 lines, typically written in iambic pentameter (a 10-syllable pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables) and following a specific rhyme scheme (of which there are several we’ll go over this point more in just a moment). This allowed the flow of each line of poetry to seem as familiar as possible to both readers and listeners. There are different types of pentameter.The most common one in English is iambic pentameter, which is a line of 10 syllables with alternating unstressed and then stressed. Another way to describe pentameter is a line of poetry with 10 syllables.

Writers in Shakespeare’s era believed that iambic pentameter most closely matched the normal speaking patterns of native English speakers. Pentameter is a line of poetry with five beats. Each line is written in iambic pentameter, meaning that each lines contains exactly ten syllables, every other one accented.

Shakespeare also followed another rule that was popular during his era but far less now. Iambic pentameter refers to its rhythm basically, each line of the poem has ten syllables, and every other syllable is stressed.

Iambic pentameter sonnet examples