How to Construct an Iambic Pentameter

William Shakespeare used iambic pentameter in his plays and sonnets.

Each line of a verse written in iambic pentameter consists of five groups of syllable pairs. In each pair, the accent falls on the second syllable. In English, every word emphasizes a single syllable. This consists of the accent. Other forms of iambic meter include iambic dimeter, in which each line consists of two groups of iambic syllable pairs, and iambic hexameter, with lines featuring six groups of iambic syllable pairs.

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Instructions

- 1
  
  Read several examples of iambic pentameter to illuminate the subject. Each line of iambic pentameter consists of five pairs of the sound da-DUM. In each pair, the emphasis falls on the second syllable. For example, read this line from Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" out loud: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
- 2
  
  Write the first word, one with the accent on the second syllable, e.g. "sufficient" or "delay." Alternatively, write two one-syllable words in which the second word is more important than the first, and thus is stressed when said out loud.
- 3
  
  Underline the accented syllable. Determine if one or zero syllables fall after it. For example, one syllable falls after the accented syllable in "sufficient" while zero syllables fall after the accented syllable in "delay."
- 4
  
  Add another word in the iambic pentameter pattern. If the poem contains one unaccented syllable, write a single word or a word with its emphasis on the first syllable, e.g. "careful" or "sometime."
- 5
  
  Continue writing the line in the form "da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM" until it contains five "da-DUM" pairs. If the last word in the line is accented, write a word with its accent on the second syllable. The finished line includes ten syllables total.
- 6
  
  Write the next line using the da-DUM format.
- 7
  
  Continue writing until you complete the poem or prose piece.