Iambic Pentameter

[Anonymous No.10779154]

Is there some trick to recognizing and following the meter? I'm told Shakespeare's
>But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
Is an example, but it clearly doesn't follow the definition of 5 Iambs near as I can make it out. Are the stresses meant to be like so, with the 2nd word in the line emphasized?
but soft
what light
through yon
der win
dow breaks

That seems so weird and unnatural that I figure it must be wrong?

I'd appreciate some help from more literate anons, I want to read Shakespeare with the proper intonation.

[Anonymous No.10779165]

Oh boy, where to start. I honestly think you need to read something like Stephen Fry's the Ode less traveled. It will walk you through everything.

[Anonymous No.10779208]

>>10779165
That looks like a worthy read, I thank you for the mention.

Still I would be indebted further if anyone could outline the stresses in the line mentioned above. I'm stupid so a clear and outlined example is sorely needed.

[Anonymous No.10779227]

>>10779208
Your example is perfect iambic pentameter.

[Anonymous No.10779246]

>>10779208
Your break-ups of the words for the meter are on point, and Stephen Fry's book will walk you through why iambic pentameter works the way it does. It's a great read and probably the best intro to poetry. Have fun with it! \o/

[Anonymous No.10779257]

>>10779208
>but soft
>what light
>through yon
>der win
>dow breaks

This is exactly how it's supposed to be. Now if it sounds wrong then you're overdoing it.

Functional words (here: but, what, through) are rarely emphasised in regularl speech, two syllable nouns tend to be stressed on the first syllable. Again, Fry goes through meter and rhythm and all that jazz very thoroughly; I recommend it anyone who has problems understanding poetry intuitively. (I was extremely put off by it, but the book helped me understand and respect it)

[Anonymous No.10779265]

OP should've paid attention in grade 9 English...

[Anonymous No.10779298]

If youre not a native speaker you might not be prounoucing words properly

[Anonymous No.10779314]

Whats crazy is that english speakers often speak in iambic pentameter unconsciously.

Just say some sentences like
"Where are you going to go?"
Notice how you stress one syllable and not the next? You are speaking in iambs.

[Anonymous No.10779338]

>>10779314
>Where are you going to go?
But that reads more like anaphoric trimeter.

[Anonymous No.10780620]

>>10779314
Not I, seldom does one do as you say.

[Anonymous No.10781888]

>>10779154
I believe I know exactly why you can't and have developed a theory which predicts that people are divided up into those who can easily parse poetic meters like iambic, and those who can't and won't be able to understand it through brute effort at all, which you are likely an example of. In your case, the only way to actually understand it won't be achieved through any kind of formal study, you simply don't yet have the capacity in you to perceive the structure of this kind of writing at all yet. Instead you must develop the mental faculty which enables this perception in the first place, after which the ability to scan iambic will simply feel natural and won't have to be explicitly learned at all, but rather will fall out of the text without your deliberate consciousness of it.

[Anonymous No.10781909]

I just read everything without knowing what rhythm it's supposed to take... what am I missing?

[Anonymous No.10782643]

>>10781909
Rhythm

[Anonymous No.10782719]

>>10779154
Read a lot of it. You've probably spent a few hours with Shakespeare or iambic pentameter. Do it for a month and then see if it makes any more sense to you.

Milton and Wordsworth both wrote in iambic pentameter if you want some variety.

[Anonymous No.10782855]

>>10782719
Yeah do this. But also compare how it sounds compared to other meters. For instance compare how the perfectly iambic pentameter of Shakespeare's sonnet 18 sounds compared to the trochaic tetrameter of the witches in Macbeth (double double toil and trouble, etc.)