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My question is, 'Is Iambic pentameter just an illusion?'

When I learned Shakespeare in school, my teacher emphasized on the thing called 'iambic pentameter'. That goes like 'du Dum du Dum......' But when I looked up at the famous 'tomorrow speech' from Macbeth, I really didn't think this isn't on Iambic pentameter. Only Iambic pentameter I can name was the line 'That strets and frets his hour upon the stage.'

So I posted a question in the other site and the answer I was given was that there is no strict iambic pentameter. No-one writes poems in strict iambic pentameter and that shakespeare isn't much of it. They said it is even debatable whether Shakespeare 'knew' what is iambic pentameter or he just followed what other people in his period wrote. I was... deeply confused?

And they say the poem I gave as an example of Iambic trimeter isn't much of Iambic either. It goes like this.

'Although the sun and moon were gone And the universe ceased to be And thou art left alone Every existence would exist in thee.'

Is my perception of Iambic completely wrong? I've always thought that poems are to be written in iambic. I don't know why my teacher so much gave an emphasis on it.

Victoria
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  • As you can see from my writing, I'm not a native speaker, and may lack in understanding of Iambic rhythm in sense of word accent. If my question needs to be narrower and more specific, please tell me. – Victoria Aug 03 '17 at 11:56
  • Related, tangentially: Why did Shakespeare write in iambic pentameter? – Mithical Aug 03 '17 at 12:04
  • I thoroughly enjoyed the recommended answer a lot. Very interesting that languages that have gender-marked endings tend to favour different iambic modes – Victoria Aug 03 '17 at 12:28
  • Even more closely related: Were all of Shakespeare's plays fully in iambic pentameter? – Rand al'Thor Aug 03 '17 at 12:56
  • That was the answer I was looking for. I will take better care searching it next time. – Victoria Aug 03 '17 at 13:05
  • tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is in iambic pentameter. – Peter Shor Aug 03 '17 at 16:33
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    Tomó/ row ánd/ to mór/ row ánd /to mórrow. Five feet, with a feminine ending in the last one (allowed in strict iambic pentameter). – Peter Shor Aug 03 '17 at 16:34
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    Créeps in/ this pét/ ty páce/ from dáy/ to dáy/. Five feet, the first one a trochee and the next four iambs. Trochaic substitution is allowed. – Peter Shor Aug 03 '17 at 17:01
  • To the/ lást sýl/lable óf/ recórd/ed tíme/. Two deviations from iambic pentameter in this line. The first two feet are a pyrrhic followed by a spondee. This is called a double iamb and is also allowed in strict iambic pentameter. The third foot is an anapest, which you're apparently not supposed to use in strict iambic pentameter. But this is a play, not a sonnet, where the rules are a little bit less restrictive. I know Shakespeare used double iambs and trochaic substitution in his sonnets. I don't know about anapests. – Peter Shor Aug 03 '17 at 17:06
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    See this website for allowed substitutions in "strict iambic pentameter". The idea is that truly strict iambic pentameter is too monotonous (not to mention too hard to write), so allowing substitutions of trochees, spondees and double iambs is a good idea, as long as you don't use too many of them. – Peter Shor Aug 03 '17 at 17:07
  • Thank you, thank you so much. That's what I needed to know. – Victoria Aug 04 '17 at 01:24
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    @PeterShor could you write those comments up as an answer to the question this question has been closed as a duplicate of. None of the answers there do a good job talking about scansion, which is important. I would be willing to give you a bounty. –  Aug 05 '17 at 18:08

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