How can I write in iambic pentameter?
I am confused with iambic pentameter. I do not understand the difference between stressed and unstressed syllables.
I already understand that every two syllables is broken up by a line, and there are 10 syllables total in one line.
However, if you can show me by indicating what the stressed and unstressed syllables are in a work from Shakespeare, it would be much appreciated.
I need to put the prologue for “Romeo and Juliet” in iambic pentameter. If you can give me a head start by doing the first couple of lines, I can do the rest. 
Thanks.
Related posts:
- What exactly is iambic pentameter?
- Can anyone write me a poem in iambic pentameter?
- How do you do the stressed and unstressed for iambic pentameter?
- What makes something an iambic pentameter?
- Is there a single word that is in iambic pentameter?
Tags: iambic, pentameter, Write
February 17th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Remember that iambic sounds like
da DA da DA da Da da DA da DA
da = unstressed Da = stressed (say it a little harder)
…. _ … ^ ……. .. _ …… ^ . …_ .^ … _ ..^ … _ ..^
Two house/ holds, both/ a like/ in dig/ ni ty,
._….^… .._..^…_…….. ^…. … . _….^….._ …..^
In fair / Vero/ na, where/ we lay/ our scene,
Hope that scantion looks right on the answers.
February 17th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Shoot, this is dead simple:
baBUM baBUM baBUM baBUM baBUM
Like a heartbeat.
You do not have to “put” the prologue in to Iambic Pentameter, it is written that way:
two HOUSEholds BOTH aLIKE in DIGniTY
in FAIR veROna WHERE we LAY our SCENE
To write in lines iambic takes no pain
Save what the writer suffers in return
The skill to write in verse is eas’ly gained
Take heed! ‘Tis not so lightly then unlearn’d
Instead of “pass the salt” while at the table
One finds oneself phrasing it in the meter
Of five baBUMS until you are unable
Of making of this scansion a defeater
‘Tis not any easy vice, I ween, to quit
This thinking in a row of five iambs
And not to mention rhyming coupelets
But I must try my brain to reprogram
I could go on like this from dusk ’till dawn
But now my point is made, and I move on
P.S. The above is a sonnet (heehee!). ‘Twas extempore, from my mother wit
Cider