The Shakespearean sonnet has three quatrains followed by a couplet, the scheme being: Abab cdcd efef gg Even more confused? Let’s break it down. What is a sonnet? Iambic what? Oh boy, this is going to get confusing! A sonnet is a 14-line poem in iambic pentameter. An Example of Pentameter from Shakespeare: but SOFT what LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKSĨ A sonnet is a 14-line poem in iambic pentameter. Meter is the pattern So, there are five iambs per line in Romeo and Juliet Iambic penta meterĮxample It is percussive and attractive to the ear and has an effect on the listener's central nervous system. Well an ‘iamb’ is ‘dee Dum’ – it is the heart beat. It is the first and last sound we ever hear, it is the rhythm of the human heart beat. It consists of a line of five iambic feet, ten syllables with five unstressed and five stressed syllables. It sounds like this: dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM. “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks.” How many syllables are in that quotation?Ĥ Iambic Pentameter Iambic Pentameter is the rhythm and meter in which poets and playwrights wrote in Elizabethan England. Well, there are three syllables (separate sounds) in the word syl-la-ble.
Presentation on theme: 'Shakespearean Sonnets and Iambic Pentameter'- Presentation transcript:ġ Shakespearean Sonnets and Iambic Pentameter
