Shakespeare’s Style

Iambic Pentameter

What do these words have in common??

• divine• caress• bizarre• delight

Iambic Pentameter

• Like many of Shakespeare’s plays, Romeo and Juliet is written in a poetic structure known as iambic pentameter.

• This is a rhythmical pattern of syllables.• “iambic’ means that the rhythm goes from an

unstressed syllable to a stressed one.• Sounds like a heartbeat: daDUM, daDUM,

daDUM

I.P. Cont.

– Each iambic part is called a “foot”– “pentameter” means that the line has 5 of

these “feet”– The word “divine” is a foot, the phrase

“hate thee” is also a foot.–Remember we are talking about syllables

here, not words.

Examples of I. P.

– “I walked, she fled, and day brought back my night” -John Milton

– I walked/she fled/and day/brought back/my night

– We hold these truths to be self- evident -Thomas Jefferson

– We hold/ these truths/ to be/ self e/ vi dent

Shakespeare himself…

– “As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee”

– As I/ hate hell/ all Mon/ ta gues/ and thee

What’s a Sonnet

?

A Sonnet

–A sonnet is a poem that consists of 14 lines of iambic pentameter.–How many feet would that be?–You got it…70 feet–There are a few different types of rhyming

schemes, but the English or Shakespearean Sonnet follows this format:–abab cdcd efef gg

A Shakespearean Sonnet

– The prologue to Act I and Act II are sonnets.–By the way… “blank verse” is unrhymed

iambic pentameter– Let’s look at the first prologue together.

The rhyming format will make more sense to you as we read the prologue.