A Lesson on Iambic Pentameter and the Shakespearian

A Lesson on Iambic Pentameter and the Shakespearian Rhyme Scheme

Iambic Pentameter An iamb is a prosodic foot of two syllables, an unstressed followed by a stressed one.

OK, then what’s prosodic? Prosodic comes from prosody which means… the study of poetic meters and verse.

Pentameter Well, let’s look at the roots--- means? s i ) a ( t n Pe

FIVE

METER means…

Meter means… measure

Thus, pentameter means… five measures.

Together IAMBIC PENTAMETER means that you have five measures of unstressed and stressed syllables.

This is what you find in a Shakespearian Sonnet.

What if… I don’t understand when a syllable is stressed or unstressed?

…then it’s time to play with words we know. Let’s start with names. Say these names and tell me where the stressed syllable can be found. Mandela Cleopatra Frost Bradbury Cisneros Margaret Giovanni California Mississippi O’Connor Whitman Albertson’s Tutankhamen Jimenez Poe

How about some other words? summer autobiography tragedy remember reflect Endearing eulogy Interlopers American hotdog assessment speech literature utensil opportunity farewell transpire prosecution friendly persuasive understanding interpretive predict infer

All words have at least one syllable. ****Each syllable must contain a vowel. How many syllables can you find here? United States of America How many are stressed syllables?

Let’s practice with more syllables. “The choices you make dictate the life you lead. ” How many syllables are unstressed? How many are stressed? “It’s not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me. ” How many are stressed? How many are unstressed?

In order to identify a stress or unstressed syllable, you must… mark each syllable with a stressed or unstressed symbol. U is unstressed / is stressed

Let’s practice with lines. U / U / U / Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? U / U / U / Thou art more lovely and more temperate. U / U / U Rough winds do shake the darling buds of / May.

Let’s try some more lines. U / U / U / Love is not all; it is not meat nor drink. U / U / U / Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; U / U / U / Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink

These are iambs… U / U / U /

Five of these together, in one line, is known as… IAMBIC PENATMETER U / U / U / IAMB PENTAMETER= FIVE MEASURES

Let’s look at those lines again… U / U / U / Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? U / U / U / Thou art more lovely and more temperate. U / U / U Rough winds do shake the darling buds of / May.

Now let’s visit a Shakespearian Rhyme Scheme. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Now shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

What’s the rhyme scheme?

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? A Thou art more lovely and more temperate: B Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: Sometime to hot the eye of heaven shines, C And often is his gold complexion dimmed; D And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; F Now shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, E When in eternal lines to time thou growest: F So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, G So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. A B C D E G

Ta Da!! A Shakespearian Rhyme Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Let’s do some MATH!! Iambic Pentameter ababcdcdefef gg rhyme scheme (14 lines) Shakespearian Sonnet

Are you ready?

Sonnet Quiz 1. Define iambic pentameter. 2. Write a stressed symbol. 3. Write an unstressed symbol. 4. Write the stress and unstressed symbols for: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 5. A rhyme scheme is like a _____. 6. Write the Shakespearian Rhyme Scheme. 7. Who created this rhyme scheme? 8. All Shakespearian sonnets must have _____.