Iambic pentameter is poetry where the syllables line up in
an unstressed/stressed fashion and there are 5 of those unstressed/stressed feet per
line.
Shakespeare often used iambic pentameter rhyming
couplets in his writing, but he was also fond of using Blank Verse in iambic
pentameter.
Blank verse is simply iambic pentameter with
the same rhythm but no rhyme scheme.
An example of this is
this speech from the prince in Romeo and Juliet:
PRINCE
Rebellious subjects, enemies to
peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained
steel,--
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you
beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious
rage
With purple fountains issuing from your
veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody
hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the
ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved
prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy
word,
By thee, old Capulet, and
Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our
streets,
And made Verona's ancient
citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming
ornaments,
To wield old partisans, in hands as
old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd
hate:
If ever you disturb our streets
again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the
peace.
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