Iambic Pentameter Explained

The Complete Guide to Shakespeare aims to answer your questions about Shakespeare and make the plays accessible to everyone.
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Twitter: DrAidan1564

[@fray4317]

i literally have an a**/9 in english language and lit and could never get my head round iambic pentameter. now i understand completely. thank you SO much.

[@DrAidan]

That’s my pleasure. I’m very pleased that you have found it so helpful and thank you for letting me know.

[@salisburysteak9641]

I know how you feel. I always got As in english and poetry etc but never understood this concept. I always just had a bunch of people looking at me like I was dumb and clapping at me till they gave up on teaching me.

[@LaplacianFourier]

I swear, there are so many great teacher, but so many awful teachers who are spoiling the subject for their students. When I did engineering, my professor sucked at explaining Smith Chart but I watch a KZbin video and I had the same comment! KZbin University is awesome. I just wish they’d stop with the censorship of “offensive” comments that are meant to challenge views and let growth occur.

[@OlgaWand]

'De dum' is also like an immitation of a heartbeat. And the iambic rhythm often breaks when someone in a play tragically dies or gets killed. When the life (the heartbeat) stops.

[@FlaminiaJulia]

Oh! Lovely to know

[@johnsinclair3994]

Very informative and easy to understand. Thank you. Too add, I'm a 76 year old man who is totally uneducated so I found this extremely helpful. We are never too old to learn.

[@DrAidan]

@@johnsinclair3994 that’s great to hear. I’m very pleased that you found it useful and thank you for letting me know.

[@Shanita911]

I wish my English professors had explained it this way, it would’ve saved so much time and frustration. Now the frustration ends, you made it seem so simple! Thank you!

[@DrAidan]

Thank you. I’m so pleased that the video was helpful and thanks also for taking the time to let me know.

[@BritikoBeats]

You've just made iambic pentameter so clear to understand in less than 3 minutes!

[@micanikko]

Thanks for this! Currently studying about writing song lyrics and our professor is teaching about iambic pentameters. But he didn't explain it at all, and it doesnt help that english is my second language so these terms are new to me. You explained so nicely! Thank you very much!

[@DrAidan]

Thank you. I'm very pleased that you found it useful.

[@1dmckenna]

These videos are so basic, good & helpful. GREAT!

[@dil-en8804]

my teacher put this on the powerpoint for our work and it probably the most helpful vid ever

[@DrAidan]

That's great to hear and thank you fore letting me know. I have just uploaded a second video on Iambic Pentameter. Here's the link if you are interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqG0lomVntVjfZo

[@BleuAre]

Thank you soooo much! I finally understand it! ❤

[@DrAidan]

That's great to hear!

[@zahraarahal9208]

Please can you help me to understand the class ..I didn't get it yet. Thank you

[@retribution999]

How did the common people understand Shakespeare in his time when we find it so incredibly difficult.

[@gurudhath3351]

Hi

[@blindfolol7371]

i refuse to believe they did

[@troy550]

I believe part of it is because Shakespeare wrote/spoke in Early Modern English as opposed to our modern English. He also lived during the mid-end of the great vowel shift which basically just caused some things to rhyme differently. They also commonly used words that have fallen out of popular usage etc

[@JohnMiles2007]

How did a generation understand the likes of Motley Crue or what the word Google meant. Shakespeare wrote deeply rich and compelling literature laced with word play and flowing metaphors and imagery which actually changed the English language. P.S. Google just got lucky! :)

[@glassy_rose]

It was acted 😅 reading a dry text in an archaic dialect is much harder than seeing the actors on stage live interact with each other

[@waytosuccessHP]

You defined very clearly... i listened from many person before this but couldn't understand.. i properly understood today.

[@DrAidan]

@@waytosuccessHP I’m very pleased to hear that and thank you for taking the time to let me know.

[@hannahsnehalatha4217]

Thank you so much for this video..Very good explanation for Iambic pentameter. I am about to teach Shakespeare next week .While browsing for an answer to explain this, I found your video...🤗👍

[@DrAidan]

Thank you for your kind words and I’m very pleased that you found it helpful.

[@Miracleshappen2222]

Thanks a lot! Finally understood this! May the triple gem bless u!

[@DrAidan]

Thank you: I'm glad it helped you.

[@ZoeyLaw]

thank you and this helps a lot with my English literature course!

[@DrAidan]

I'm very pleased to hear that it is helpful and thank you for letting me know.

[@georginathomas86]

This guy is good! More videos needed ASAP. Could you perchance demonstrate how to analyse and understand poetic techniques?

[@DrAidan]

Thank you. Good idea. I will put poetic techniques on the list of videos I will write in the coming months.

[@faithforgrace]

You’ve made this way more clearer than my teacher and a google search has.

[@DrAidan]

Thank you. That’s very kind of you to say and I’m pleased to hear that you found it useful.

[@faithforgrace]

@@DrAidan Oh yeah no problem, keep up the good work!

[@elizabethb.1465]

Thank you! I'm currently studying a degree on English studies and this kind of things are difficult to understand if you are not a native speaker. Gonna share this with my peers!

[@DrAidan]

Thank you for your comments and thank you for sharing the video. I'm glad you found it useful.

[@user-gb6hh5hr6x]

No ones gives a shit Elizabeth.B

[@PhilomathWizard]

Thanks, I'm an immigrant and the way we separate syllables is completely different. This helped me a lot!

[@DrAidan]

Very glad to hear that!

[@samuelrobinson5842]

Dr. Goeff Lindsay also has a great video going over this to the rythm of Pink Panther. I didn't know that was what Iambic Pentameter meant and this video also goes into more analytical depth. Thanks for the help!

[@RenatoBiribin-er5rr]

Super helpful for my CHAMPIONS! We're starting our unit with this MASTERPIECE!😁😁😉😛

[@abyst5393]

This is the best explantion I've come across

[@DrAidan]

That's great to hear and thank you for letting me know.

[@observingyt6159]

Thank you! I was struggling with the explanation given in my Open uni access module. This cleared things up.

[@DrAidan]

I’m very pleased to hear that it was helpful and thank you for letting me know.

[@Froggey12319]

Makes so much sense now! Thank you so much!

[@DrAidan]

Very glad to hear that.

[@hamzabaig8856]

GREAT VIDEO THANKS DOC!!!

[@DrAidan]

Thank you. I’m very pleased to hear that you liked it and thanks for letting me know.

[@katelynhuynh3393]

THIS MADE IT SO MUCH EASIER

[@DrAidan]

I'm very pleased to hear that. Thank you for letting me know. I have just produced another video looking at one of the main variations used in iambic pentameter. Just click in this link if you are interested. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqG0lomVntVjfZo

[@henryhunter1773]

This was very helpful. Thank you very much for uploading!

[@DrAidan]

You're very welcome! Thank you for letting me know.

[@rayanahmed2131]

Good video you deserve more recognition!

[@DrAidan]

I appreciate that! Thank you!

[@immanuellareginanwanedo3017]

Unfortunately I still don’t get it 💔

[@gamerliciousfresh8438]

Yeah me too ima fail :(

[@jesusdominguez5492]

^^ me 3

[@soobunii4871]

same

[@EdwardSlayford-jh6og]

This is for a homework; and this helps so much thank you

[@DrAidan]

I’m glad to hear that it’s helpful. Thank you for your kind words and thank you for letting me know.

[@ichokedonadoritoonce7670]

These were super helpful .. My english professor got nothing on u sir

[@DrAidan]

I’m very pleased that you found them helpful and thank you for letting me know.

[@10TARDIS]

I had to write a poem using this for a project, and the book explained it horribly. Thanks for the video, this really helped!

[@DrAidan]

Glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know.

[@Pinetrees_G]

Thanks! This was exactly what I was looking for.

[@DrAidan]

Very glad to hear that - thanks for the kind words.

[@leoham4756]

Learned it once, forgot it all. Thank you.

[@Akhil_Anchoori]

Thank you so much you have explained in such a way that i understand.

[@DrAidan]

Glad it was helpful!

[@lillianperulli5793]

Very helpful!!!

[@DrAidan]

Thank you Lillian - I'm very glad to hear you found it useful.

[@foodiegal9923]

So simple! Thanks.

[@DrAidan]

@@foodiegal9923 thank you for watching and I’m pleased you found it helpful.

[@omarzipan91]

Thank you so much. That's brilliant

[@DrAidan]

You're very welcome. Glad you liked it.

[@matlamasawi2063]

thank you

[@DrAidan]

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. I have just uploaded a second video on Iambic Pentameter. Here's the link if you are interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqG0lomVntVjfZo

[@rebeccam6071]

This makes so much sense thank you

[@DrAidan]

I’m very pleased to hear that and thank you for letting me know.

[@xakeisoverparty]

sir, thank you so much for your explanation. it is easy to understand❤❤, hope you always happy thanks!!💗

[@DrAidan]

Very glad to hear that!

[@cholieandresa]

At first I thought I’d never understand this. I was wrong! Thanks for this clarification

[@DrAidan]

I’m glad to hear that it helped. Thank you for letting me know.

[@allkleencontractor]

Sooo simple! Thanks!😊

[@STEPHxCA]

This was a very easy to follow vid thank you

[@DrAidan]

Great to hear that - thanks for letting me know.

[@Y456_I23W]

Thank you very very much

[@amiliarek7521]

So helpful, thank youuu!!

[@DrAidan]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AwesomeSoschukwu]

*ANGER AND LOVE* In passion tempest, love and anger clash Their dance, a wild tango of fire and Ice Two forces warning, yet entwined they lash A paradox that leaves the heart unsliced Anger, a tempest with it's thunderous rush It's lighting strikes igniting wounded pride Yet deep within it's flames a longing year A desperate plea for love not to subside And love, the gentle rain that soothes the burn His tender touch, a balm for wounded souls Forgiveness blooms when anger flames Adjorn A fragile bridge across tumultuous shoals So let them coexist,the fierce extreme For love,in Anger's crucible reedems this is an example I made up😊

[@xdmo7853]

Wow absolutely life changing stuff

[@emanmahmoud9439]

Brilliant explanation

[@shsanj1973]

Wow!! Thanks for that.

[@DrAidan]

@@shsanj1973 thank you. I’m pleased it was useful.

[@1a21a]

Thank you so much for this!

[@DrAidan]

No problem at all, I'm glad to hear it was helpful!

[@2933vera]

I didn't understand it at university, but your explanation clarifies everything I need to know. Thanks a billion. 🥰

[@pradeepgaur8929]

Thank you so much💐😊

[@Stingtheraverrr]

THANK YOU !!!

[@nuenglishliteraturebd3284]

Amazing clads

[@another1728]

very well presented.

[@DrAidan]

Thank you, I appreciate that.

[@purrteani]

This is so helpful! Thank you!

[@DrAidan]

I’m very pleased to hear that and thank you for letting me know.

[@nguyenminhdung1612]

AWESOME VIDEOOOOOOOOO!!! EXPLICIT EXPLANATION!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 I

[@DrAidan]

Glad it helped!

[@tisitabarman6633]

Best explanation

[@DrAidan]

Thank you.

[@pacifiqueuzabakiriho1062]

you're a good guy Elliot

[@DrAidan]

That’s very kind of you to say; thank you.

[@gaelvada3113]

good video mate

[@paradoxinmotion]

thanks so much!

[@Yungbeck]

Great explanation thank u brother man

[@DrAidan]

Thank you. I’m very pleased to hear that you found it useful.

[@maham5618]

Thanks a lot this really helped me !!!!

[@DrAidan]

Thank you: I'm very pleased you liked it.

[@Y456_I23W]

Seriously!You help me so much！Thank you！

[@tomsimmonds534]

Being a budding poet, l needed to learn this, thank you 🎭🤟

[@DrAidan]

Happy to help!

[@user-gb6hh5hr6x]

Tom hopefully you go places, would love to hear your work 🤘🎭

[@user-gb6hh5hr6x]

Sike fuck u

[@tomsimmonds534]

@@DrAidan I've written several now, including tetrameter, common meter and several other styles, thank you again 🎭

[@tomsimmonds534]

@@user-gb6hh5hr6x thank you

[@garrettevans9193]

How did readers in William´s time know to read his poems in iambic pentameter?

[@Isaac-re2il]

get aired

[@Dan-ii5wz]

get aired

[@garrettevans9193]

Got it! Thx guys

[@Sammy-dq6wt]

mans just summoned the entire my-English-teacher-doesn't-teach-us gang with this video. thanks lol.

[@somethingcool9606]

Oh hey I’m not alone!

[@samantavergara780]

Many thanks! ♥

[@DrAidan]

Thank you! I have just uploaded a second video on Iambic Pentameter. Here's the link if you are interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqG0lomVntVjfZo

[@iancrooks8702]

this is the best

[@DrAidan]

Thank you. I'm pleased you enjoyed it.

[@mp-ln2px]

Y did u kill him

[@priyasoni4262]

Thanks for the

[@DrAidan]

Thank you.

[@Ummm314]

helped with my homework

[@Meh_God]

Same😂

[@L.O.V.4307]

Umm...one question! What is the opposite of iambic pentameter?

[@DrAidan]

There is no real 'opposite', but we could - theoretically - think of prose as the 'opposite' of iambic pentameter because it doesn't have the clear structure of five iambs per line. Quite a lot of Hamlet is written in prose, for example. When Shakespeare uses prose it can indicate several things: it might be a character of a lower class speaking; or it might be a character speaking more spontaneously; or it might indicate moments when a character is experiencing deep emotions that he/she is struggling to deal with or to articulate. Hope that's useful.

[@giantsparkplug3462]

@@DrAidan If an iamb is de-DUM, what is DE-dum?

[@DrAidan]

@@giantsparkplug3462 Good question. Where greater stress is placed on the first syllable and less on the second syllable the metrical foot is called a Trochee (pronounced Troe-Key). Trochees normally appear at the beginning of an iambic pentameter line and add a degree of rhythmical variation: In the play Richard III, for example, the very first line is "Now is the winter of our discontent. As you say the first two words (the first metrical foot) you can hear that you would place more stress on the word "Now" than the word "is" - so that is a trochee and might be described as DUM-de. Hope that helps. Do send me another message if you have other questions about this.

[@eijirokirishima1527]

Thx

[@DrAidan]

No problem

[@zoombeyond]

Great video! Which storyboard software did you use to create it?

[@DrAidan]

Thank you - this video was made using VideoScribe.

[@sarraarmy7879]

Thanks for the vid

[@DrAidan]

No problem. Glad you liked it.

[@hadriennostrenoff9135]

How do you know that a foot is stressed as an Iamb or a trochee ? Is it about how it feels when you read it, that it would sound off to read the iamb like a trochee ?

[@DrAidan]

Hadrien Nostrenoff that’s a good question. It is about the relative amount of emphasis you place on a syllable. With combinations like ‘a love’ or ‘to be’ you can hear there is more emphasis on the second word. It would sound odd to over-emphasise the first word. With a trochee it sounds natural to stress the first syllable more than the second. With the words ‘Now is’ you can hear that it sounds more natural to stress the word ‘Now’ more than the word ‘is’. It takes a bit of practice but eventually it will become clearer and clearer. Hope that’s helpful.

[@hadriennostrenoff9135]

Thank you, so the natural emphasis of the word does play a part. I wasn't sure :)

[@charleslennonbaker]

Thank you for this video. I finally understand William Shatner. He thinks in iambic pentameter. Decades of stage acting skewed his subconscious, which in turn caused his Shatner Pause in almost every role. Does he 'pause' when he sings to himself in the shower?

[@herm4582]

cool !!

[@nuenglishliteraturebd3284]

Class..thanks a lot

[@DrAidan]

Thank you. Glad it was useful.

[@uncletrashero]

are we supposed to force some stress on the final "Brook" ? it feels like that is an unstressed syllable unless its a question?

[@kylesathiah2317]

Thank you mate 🙏🏽

[@DrAidan]

No problem 👍

[@brianthomason5022]

God bless you on learning me this shit. I'm watching Macbeth right now LOL

[@kmthx6263]

Woke up at 1 am and this word appears in my head for no reason, I don’t know what it means. Now I’m here

[@manjirojas3493]

wheew, finally

[@tobinwazzan]

Sir. Did it seem to me like you read that line incorrectly? You stressed the wrong syllsbles.

[@ZanesFacebook]

I write short stories for my own amusement. First, I whack out a draft of what I think the story should be. Then I forget that it even exists. I come back after about a week or so and read it over. If I decide that I have myself a story, then I rewrite most of the lines. I notice that when I makes changes to the lines because I don't like the sound, I usually follow the iambic part, but not the pentameter part

[@sallysmith7242]

Saying the line again, correctly, at the end (after saying it incorrectly) would be nice.

[@DrAidan]

Thank you for the suggestion.

[@dthomscappello]

@@DrAidan lol I'm not trying to be as crass but yeah it did sound like you emphasized the first syllable of the foot. No harm no foul, my students still got it

[@DrAidan]

Thanks for mentioning this and thanks also for recommending the video to your students.

[@mayankrai9726]

Her eyes are pearls above her rosy face.( Is this iambic pentameter?)

[@DrAidan]

@@mayankrai9726 yes, that is iambic pentameter - slightly more stress would naturally be placed on syllables 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.

[@saahil5614]

Sorry but I don’t quite understand the de-Dum part and also I can’t figure out which part I need to analyse to find the iambic pentameter. I’m so lost and my corse work is in soon help me please...!!!!!!!

[@DrAidan]

Thanks for your question. An iamb consists of two syllables and the DE-DUM pattern describes the fact that there is more relative stress on the second of these two syllables in a standard iamb. So, for example, take the word ATTACK. As you say it you can hear there is less stress placed on the A and more on TTACK. It is similar with the word AGO or AGAINST. Now compare a word you used in your question the word - FIGURE. You can hear that there is more stress on FIG than on URE. Likewise the word BOATING - there's more stress on BOAT and less on ING. I hope that helps explain the pattern but do send me a note if you would like more examples.

[@alexmart3931]

Well now I got a rabbit hole to go down.

[@HyperrLgaming]

Very good :))

[@brianvanderspuy4514]

And now, at last, we understand, so thanks we say to this - so educated - soul. Hmm, not sure I got that right, and it sure ain't Shakespeare. :-)

[@retribution999]

Must be very difficult to be constrained in this way, by such rules while writing.

[@Max-bo3di]

What ever happened to verses from a deep flow of consciousness ?

[@DrAidan]

It's a good question. In this period they admired writers who constructed lines for poetic effect. It is only later that people began to react against this and experiment with different forms.

[@Arjay82]

Why "pentameter"? Is there a Septameter? Quadameter?

[@DrAidan]

Good question. Pentameter because there are five feet in the line. There is also dimeter (two feet in the line), trimeter (three feet), tetrameter (four feet), hexameter (six feet) and heptameter (seven feet) amongst others.

[@tlvexy5372]

Yo who’s watching this from school rn

[@scotniver7180]

Holy Smokes.. I know nothing about this stuff. Never realized how complicated

[@radwanmahmoud6712]

My exam is tomorrow . wish me good luck 🙏

[@DrAidan]

Good luck! I hope the exam goes very well.

[@radwanmahmoud6712]

@@DrAidan thanks 😍

[@watch-Dominion-2018]

Deadwood is the best example of this