Iambic pentameter....again!

mountainboo | 15:10 Sat 15th Jan 2011 | Arts & Literature

3 Answers

Sorry, I still have a mental block where this is concerned and I have an A-Level exam on Monday which focuses on WW1 literature. From what I have read it can vary. How do I know if it a poem has iambic pentameter? I am aware it is something Shakespeare used a great deal but when analysing the following poem I read that it to has iambic pentameter:

Hooded in angry mist, the sun goes down:
Steel-gray the clouds roll out across the sea:
Is this a Kingdom? Then give Death the crown,
For here no emperor hath won, save He.

Can someone help please?

TIA

DTGK sat 15th

cities quiz

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mountainboo

Question Author

P.S The poem is by Herbert Asquith

NazNomad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter

Quizmonster

The first line is not strictly iambic, as the word 'hooded' has the stress on the first - not the second - syllable. Apart from that, the lines ARE iambic and - since each line contains FIVE feet - they are pentameter also.
Just ask yourself if the rhythm of the lines is:
ti-TUM, ti-TUM, ti-TUM, ti-TUM, ti-TUM
with 'ti' representing an unstressed syllable and 'TUM' representing a stressed syllable.

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