Straightforward examples of this rhythm can be heard in the opening line of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 12: The da-DUM of a human heartbeat is a common example of this rhythm.Ī standard line of iambic pentameter is five iambic feet in a row: Problems playing this file? See media help.Īn iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. William Shakespeare famously used iambic pentameter in his plays and sonnets, John Milton in his Paradise Lost, and William Wordsworth in The Prelude.Īs lines in iambic pentameter usually contain ten syllables, it is considered a form of decasyllabic verse. It is used in several major English poetic forms, including blank verse, the heroic couplet, and some of the traditionally rhymed stanza forms. It was first introduced into English by Chaucer in 14th century on the basis of French and Italian models.

Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry. ' Pentameter' indicates a line of five 'feet'. 'Iambic' refers to the type of foot used, here the iamb, which in English indicates an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (as in a-bove).

The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called ' feet'.

Iambic pentameter ( / aɪ ˌ æ m b ɪ k p ɛ n ˈ t æ m ɪ t ər/ eye- AM-bik pen- TAM-it-ər) is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. Metric line consisting of five iambic feet

Dream sonnet iambic pentameter