When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st. Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,Īnd every fair from fair sometime declines,īy chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,Īnd summer’s lease hath all too short a date. Examples of Pentameter in Literature Example #1 As stated above, some theorists think that pentameter is both a natural and an ideal length for a line, as it contains about the amount of syllables that we can speak in a single breath. Vincent Millay also adopted pentameter forms in order to give their poetry more rhythmic unity.

More modern authors such as Robert Frost and Edna St. Iambic pentameter is perhaps the most commonly used form in all of English poetry and drama, being the meter of choice for authors such as William Shakespeare, John Milton, and John Donne. Lines with examples of pentameter have been extremely important in the history of literature from classical Greek drama to contemporary poetry. ♦ Significance of Pentameter in Literature This form is very rare, as anapest more frequently occurs in lines of three feet ( trimeter), four feet (tetrameter), or six feet (hexameter).

In a line of anapestic pentameter there are five stressed syllables and a total of fifteen syllables. Anapestic Pentameter: Anapest, sometimes called an antidactyl, is a metrical foot comprised of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.Elegiac couplets began with a line in hexameter followed by a line in pentameter, thus creating a constant sense of rising and falling action. Dactylic pentameter was very important in the poetry of antiquity, and was usually found as the second line in an elegiac couplet. Dactylic pentameter has five stressed syllables, and a total of fifteen syllables in a line. Dactylic Pentameter: A dactyl has one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.Trochaic pentameter is relatively rare, as trochaic lines usually have four feet (tetrameter), i.e., a line with four stressed syllables and a total of eight syllables. However, lines begin with the stressed syllable and end with an unstressed syllable. Trochaic pentameter thus also have five stressed syllables and ten syllables total, similar to iambic pentameter. Trochaic Pentameter: A trochee is the inverse of an iamb, and is comprised of one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.Iambic pentameter was the most common meter used in traditional English poetry and drama. Therefore, iambic pentameter has five stressed syllables and ten syllables total. Iambic Pentameter: An iamb is a combination of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Sonnet Iambic Pentameter definition