The first twelve lines are divided into three quatrains with four lines each. There are fourteen lines in a Shakespearean sonnet. It should be noted that there are also many prose passages in Shakespeare's plays and some lines of trochaic tetrameter, such as the Witches' speeches in Macbeth. Unrhymed iambic pentameter is called blank verse. Shakespeare's plays are also written primarily in iambic pentameter, but the lines are unrhymed and not grouped into stanzas. Thou ART / more LOVE / ly AND / more TEM / per ATE ( Sonnet 18) Shall I / com PARE/ thee TO / a SUM / mer's DAY? I ALL / a LONE / be WEEP / my OUT/ cast STATE ( Sonnet 29) When IN / dis GRACE / with FOR / tune AND / men's EYES When I / do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME ( Sonnet 12) A line of iambic pentameter flows like this:īaBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet. Shakespeare's sonnets are written predominantly in a meter called iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. Shakespearean Sonnet Basics: Iambic Pentameter and the English Sonnet Style
