What does: 'iambic pentameter' mean?

Question

E.g. Dolce et Decorum Est - Is a poem is written in loose iambic pentameter.

I've read what is says on Wikipedia but still do not understand, a simple but good explanation will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It is really difficult to explain but maybe you will get some help here.

http://www.answers.com/topic/iambic-pentameter

Answer 2

Iambic Pentameter Meaning

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

What does: 'iambic pentameter' mean?

E.g. Dolce et Decorum Est - Is a poem is written in loose iambic pentameter.



I've read what is says on Wikipedia but still do not understand, a simple but good explanation will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 4

Ten syllables to each line



These syllables are broken up into five pairs - this is the pentameter.



The 'rhythm' of these syllables is the iambic part. Iambic just means that the first syllable is unstressed whilst the second syllable is stressed therefore the pattern is unstressed, stressed (five times).



You may find that a lot of lines start with a stressed syllable (stress, unstress is a trochee) which is used for a stronger effect. Have a look at the Gale site below and check out some of the uni sites as a lot of them have great info.

Answer 5

a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.

Answer 6

The Romans did not use a rhyming system but rather a system based on 5 beats or syllables in the thought/ sentence--I don't recall, but I think that it was the long (stressed) syllables that were counted. By poetry I mean a work like Aeneid by Virgil.

Answer 7

a proper iambic pentameter has 5 syllables, and every syllable is stressed alternatly. so you might stress the 1st but not the second, third but not forth, and fifth.

see?

Answer 8

iambic pentameter is a poem which have 5 syllables, i think



try reading again wikipedia, tho

Answer 9

iamb stands for a type of syllable (there are two, stress and unstress) something....stess sign by unstress sign and penta is for a meter of 5, so in a poem in is 5 of each stress and unstres symbol...i can't show u though cause my keyboard doesn't have the symbols on it....the stress symbol should be a diagonal line above the word and the unstress symbol should look like a sideways s, each syllable should have a symbol over it and they should switch off each syllable, so stress, unstress, stress,unstress and there should be 5 of each so a total of ten in each line.

Answer 10

An iamb is the term used for the most common metrical foot in English poetry, short stress followed by long, ti-tum. Five iambs in one line together comprise in turn the commonest pattern in English verse. Webster only departs from the verse of iambic pentameter when he strays, rarely, into prose. The last couplet of the play, duly scanned, looks like this: "Integrity of life is fame's best friend, / Which nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end."







In other words it goes:



puh-POM puh-POM puh-POM puh-POM puh-POM. The pattern is most compatible with the normal rhythms of English speech, and was a fixture of Elizabethan verse.

Answer 11

it contains five couplets of stessed and unstressed syllables..each couplets by definition having two syllables...its a symmetrical meter based on the sacred illuminati numbers of 5 and 2.its often called pure verse..

Answer 12

Iamic pentameter is a way of writing poety of a fashion such as of the Rennaisance or of Wm Shakespeare.



The word 'pentameter' comes from Greek - pente or penta = five - such as 'penathlete' 'pentagram' etc.



Iambic pentameter - Wikipedia, ambic pentameter is a meter in poetry. It refers to a line consisting of five iambic feet. The word "pentameter" simply means that there are five feet in ...

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter



Fun with Iambic Pentameter Iambic is the building block of about two-thirds of medieval and Renaissance English poetic forms. Iambic pentameter is used in rime royal, ...

http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mwh95001/iambic.html



Iambic _Pentameter*Definition: Iambic pentameter is a meter in poetry. It has an unrhymed line with 5 iambs or feet. Iambic means the stress is on the second syllable, ...

http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC030240/iambic%20_pentameter.htm



Shakespearean Sonnet Basics: Iambic Pentameter and the English ...Everything you need to know about the style and meter of Shakespeare's sonnets. What is iambic pentameter? Which three sonnets are not like the others?

http://www.shakespeare.about.com/od/studentresources/a/sonnetbasics.htm



pentameter — Infoplease.com The third line of Thomas Nashe's “Spring” is in pentameter: “Cold doth / not sting, / the pret / ty birds / do sing.” Iambic pentameter, in which each foot ...

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0838199.html



SAY IT OUT LOUD BEFORE THY MIRROR OH RECITER OF POETY



Spring by Thomas NasheSpring - by Thomas Nashe .. SPRING, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king; Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring, Cold doth not sting, ...

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/spring



The above I hope, will give you a better understanding, most particularly if you can learn the poem and recite it out loud.



You will understand.

Answer 13

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/au0WK



See the site below for explanation and simple examples. Perhaps the examples will help you recognize the rhythm in the verse.

Answer 14

So you've already read that iambic pentameter is defined as a 5-foot meter, with each foot "iambic," i.e., having 1 unstressed and 1 stressed syllable (the most common meter in English poetry) and seen the example of:



da Da / da DA / da DA / da DA / da DA)



To break it down in simpler terms,



"iambic pentameter is a rhythmical pattern of syllables. The "iambic" part means that the rhythm goes from an unstressed syllable to a stressed one, as happens in words like divine, caress, bizarre, and delight. It sounds sort of like a heartbeat: daDUM, daDUM, daDUM."

(http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mwh95001/iambic.html)



Examples from the above source:



Here are a few examples of lines written in iambic pentameter:



"Oh, gentle Faustus, leave this damnèd art,"

- Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, 5.1.37.



"I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night."

- John Milton, "Methought I Saw My Late Espousèd Saint",

a sonnet using fourteen lines of iambic pentameter.



"But surely Adam cannot be excused,"

- Aemilia Lanyer, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum



"We hold these truths to be self-evident,"

- Thomas Jefferson, "The Declaration of Independence"



I hope this helps you out!

Answer 15

It basically gives a poem its rhythm so you dont just sound like youre reading....so when you say



"this above all to thine own self be true"..it would read

"This...above all.....to thine own...self ....be...true"

Answer 16

Don't worry your pretty little head. It's a way of writing poetry. not important- Have a fruit based drink.

Answer 17

Five feet, de-dah ,de-dah, de-dah, de-dah, de-dah



We hold / these truths / to be/ self ev / ident.