In the example below, one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets, he collapses several words with apostrophes so they fit within the requisite number of ten syllables per line: the two syllables of owest down one for ow’st, the three syllables of wanderest down to two for wand’rest, and the two syllables of growest down one for grow’st.
Iambic pentameter also de-emphasizes the rhyme at the end of each line, since it falls on one of the regularly accented syllables, therefore giving it no more weight in the line than any of the other accented syllables. I had shivers and tears sprouted, because there was Shakespeares adoration for his love, and his love alive in his words, just as he said it would be. It was sonnet 18 that worked its magic on me. This allowed the flow of each line of poetry to seem as familiar as possible to both readers and listeners. I photocopied sonnets 16 to 19 on one A4 page for the students and searched for some translations on-line.
Writers in Shakespeare’s era believed that iambic pentameter most closely matched the normal speaking patterns of native English speakers. Each line is written in iambic pentameter, meaning that each lines contains exactly ten syllables, every other one accented.
Shakespeare also followed another rule that was popular during his era but far less now.
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