Iambic Pentameter

The most common meter in English is the Iambic Pentameter. Latin and Greek used the hexameter, but English has a different pattern of stress.

An iambic foot is just like one beat of the heart: da-DUM.

A standard line is five iambic feet, so five heart beats.

• Example: When I do count the clock that tells the time
• Example: To swell the gourd and plump the hazel shells

You can almost tap your foot to these.

  x  /  x   /    x    /    x     /    x   /
When I do count the clock that tells the time

 x    /   x    /    x    /    x   / x    /
To swell the gourd and plump the hazel shells

Note how "hazel" - a two-syllabic word - spans two feet.

The notation above is Scansion. The odd lines consist of two symbols: x marks an unstressed (ictic) syllable. / marks a stressed (*nonictic) syllable.

Ictus vs stress: stressed and unstressed syllable in the meter might not be the same ones that are stressed in normal speech. A weak syllable between two weaker syllables might be promoted, and vice-versa.