Help each other get it right–it can be tricky! Count your iambs. I like to think of the unstressed syllable (U) as the launch pad and the stressed syllable (/) is the rocket going into space. Then put a U (should look like a bucket, not like the letter u) over each unstressed syllable (shall, com, thee, a, mer’s for some examples) and a slanted line / over each stressed syllable. Rough winds| do shake| the dar | ling buds | of May,Īnd sum | mer’s lease | hath all | too short| a date. Thou art | more lov | ly and| more temp| erate. Shall I | compare| thee to | a sum|mer’s day? After every two syllables, draw a vertical line. Look at Sonnet 18 (by the way, you know it’s Shakespearean because the rhyme scheme is ABABCDCDEFEFGG! Bill wasn’t an ABBA fan.). Iambic pentameter: five (penta) repetitions of iambs (unstressed+stressed syllables). It should be on ONE of the many front tables I have taken over. If I haven’t given it to you yet, please find it in the classroom. There’s a sheet (which I may have already given you) with a sonnet by William Shakespeare on one side and some space for notes about iambic pentameter on the other. In my absence, you need to practice scoring iambic pentameter–that means marking the iambs and unstressed, stressed syllables in a line of iambic pentameter or blank verse.

Iambic pentameter shakespearean sonnet