Academic Writing Tips : How to Write a Poem in Iambic Pentameter
Writing a poem in iambic pentameter requires writing five metrical feet in a specific rhythm. Write a poem in iambic pentameter with tips from a produced playwright in this free video on writing. Expert: Laura Turner Bio: Laura Turner received her BA in English from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., graduating magna cum laude with honors. Her plays have been seen and heard from Alaska to Tennessee. Filmmaker: Todd Green
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Tags: Academic, iambic, pentameter, Poem, Tips, Write, writing
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:41 pm
You said you think the iambic pentameter is just a way of reading it. I put it to you that if you “half sing” the line like this, that is, put a musical tone on some syllables but not others, it will bring out the meter more clearly.
Try to sing out these syllables now, keeping the exact same way of intoning it: WILD men WHO sang AND caught THE sun IN flight.
If you concentrate and try hard, it IS possible to do this. But it does not sound like a normal English sentence.
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:27 pm
I don’t think it will make you get it. You have to find your own way to it.
Find a recording of Dylan Thomas reading his poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”. Notice how he chants the line “wild MEN who SANG and CAUGHT the SUN in FLIGHT”. Singing is the key here.
Try to read it like he does, singing out the syllables in capitals. Intone it like a priest. Whatever works for you.
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:08 pm
All I can say is: I used to think exactly that. It now makes perfect sense to me, even though I know I’ll never had a good ear for meter.
What opened my eyes was learning first to recite iambic pentameter in a kind of sing song by imitating Dylan Thomas’s readings, and secondly to write simple iambic lines by imitating the sound and lilt of existing ones.
It IS confusing though. It IS difficult to make sense of right at first. I’ll try to explain how I got into it, though I have to say . . .
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:53 pm
It still doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t get this whole “Iambic Pentameter” thing. I can’t tell the difference between the stresses and unstressed syllables. I mean, you could read anything like that, regardless if it’s actually in that form or not…
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:03 pm
abab cdcd efef gg. A poem does not have to adhere to any particular rhyme scheme in order to qualify as a sonnet.
The meter really has to do with stress. In iambic pentameter weaker syllables tend to be followed by relatively stronger ones. The important thing to grasp is that it’s about relative stress. “to” in this line is not at all heavily stressed. It is shorter, but receives more stress, than the preceding “thee”.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Shall I / comPARE / thee TO / a SUM / mer’s DAY might be a more accurate representation of how the line scans. It’s not a particularly good example of iambic pentameter though, since there are other equally valid ways of scanning it.
As the previous comments point out. she’s apparently misunderstood what a rhyme scheme is. The rhyme scheme of a poem refers to the pattern of it’s line ending rhymes. Sonnet 18 is an English, or Shakespearian, sonnet, which typically have a rhyme scheme of
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:57 pm
hey! i have to do scantion for this sonnet for language class. what’s the meterical foot for the word “ivory”?
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Why did she say there’s a “rhyme scheme” in iambic pentameter? Iambic pentameter is a type of rhythm. “Sonnet” indicates line number and rhyme scheme.
And Niiauyr is right, there wasn’t a syllable break in “summer’s”.
*sigh*
Who can tell me what the hell “short syllables” and “long syllables” are? That’s all I’m trying to find. I know what iambs are. I know about iambic pentameter. I know what a sonnet is. But apparently, no one can explain the things that make up the iamb!
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Should summer not be split in half in the example there?
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:49 pm
thank you for your time,Laura!