Iambic pentameter

Iambic pentameter (/aɪˌæmbɪk pɛnˈtæmɪtər/) is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called 'feet'. 'Iambic' refers to the type of foot used, here the iamb, which in English indicates an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (as in a-bove). 'Pentameter' indicates a line of five 'feet'.When Ajax strives some rock’s vast weight to throw,The line, too, labours and the words move slow.Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,Flies o’er th’unbending corn, and skims along the main. Iambic pentameter (/aɪˌæmbɪk pɛnˈtæmɪtər/) is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called 'feet'. 'Iambic' refers to the type of foot used, here the iamb, which in English indicates an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (as in a-bove). 'Pentameter' indicates a line of five 'feet'. Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry; it is used in the major English poetic forms, including blank verse, the heroic couplet, and some of the traditionally rhymed stanza forms. It is used both in early forms of English poetry and in later forms. William Shakespeare famously used iambic pentameter in his plays and sonnets, as did the 20th century poet Wallace Stevens. As lines in iambic pentameter usually contain ten syllables, it is considered a form of decasyllabic verse.