Simple Example
An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The rhythm can be written as:
da DUMThe da-DUM of a human heartbeat is the most common example of this rhythm.
A standard line of iambic pentameter is five iambic feet in a row:
da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUMThe tick-TOCK rhythm of iambic pentameter can be heard in the opening line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 12:
- When I do count the clock that tells the time
It is possible to notate this with a "/" marking ictic syllables (experienced as beats) and a "×" marking nonictic syllables (experienced as offbeats). In this notation a standard line of iambic pentameter would look like this:
× / × / × / × / × /The following line from John Keats' To Autumn is a straightforward example:
- To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
The scansion of this can be notated as follows:
× / × / × / × / × / To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shellsRead more about this topic: Iambic Pentameter
Famous quotes containing the word simple:
“Creative force, like a musical composer, goes on unweariedly repeating a simple air or theme, now high, now low, in solo, in chorus, ten thousand times reverberated, till it fills earth and heaven with the chant.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“His pain was too great. He begged me for the simple mercy of death. And I could do nothing else but help him leave a world that had become a sleepless, tortured nightmare to him.”
—Robert D. Andrews, and Nick Grindé. Dr. John Garth (Boris Karloff)