I don't understand iambic pentameter

It's a bit complicated, but I wrote a villanelle which required me to use iambic pentameter. I can send you a link if you want to use it as a reference.

>>8520797
That'd be fantastic

>>8520790
idr the right terms but it's a unit of an unstressed + stressed syllable repeated five times

da DA da DA da DA da DA da DA

My FRIEND can NOT read POE - try THAT is GOOD

Shit example, I recommend you YouTube it

Here it is (Just pay attention to the accents of the words. There are always 10 syllables per line):
vHatred follows the hexed, scornful,pained souls
All the anger I have clearly is tame
Sadness has been the one to take its tolls

I have felt my soul be the one that molds
Madness never made me ever the same
Hatred follows the hexed, scornful,pained souls

Hexed cries that lead me to the life I stole
All my life was clearly a life of shame
Sadness has been the one to take its tolls

Follow me if you want to be dead cold
I left my clear example up in frame
Hatred follows the hexed, scornful,pained souls

Anger is what makes the feeling of pulls
Do not follow me, this is no kid's game
Sadness has been the one to take its tolls

I feel that my soul is the one that rolls
I will tell you this is not your best aim
Hatred follows the hexed, scornful,pained souls
Sadness has been the one to take its tolls

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>>8520839
>>8520854
So am I doing this right, sort of?

>>8520929
Seems right to me.

>>8520790
but IT'S so EAS-y DON'T be SUCH a CHUMP
this RHY-thm IS in-FEC-tious ONCE beGUN
da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM

and WITH his MOUTH he KISSed her NAKed ARSE
-Chaucer

>>8520854
I'm having some difficulty with this one.
When I skimmed it it felt like there was an extra syllable, and then I noticed that's because these all sound like trochees rather than iambs. In which case it should be in tetrameter.

Try saying any of these words with the second syllable stressed. Weird, right?

Hatred
Follows
Hexed
Scornful
Sadness

>>8520790
That's fine, because it's stupid.

>>8521693
Miller's Tale is still GOAT

>>8520790
>posting racist meme frogs

>>8520929
The last line of the first stanza is one syllable too long because the word Already is three, not too, but it's not uncommon for authors to intentionally throw in a line here or there that doesn't quite fit the form.

Interesting sidenote, one of the reasons Iambic pentameter is so ubiquitous is that it has a very similar rhythm to the human heart

>>8520839
Do you actually pronounce "poetry" with only two syllables?

>>8521979
Yeah I noticed it makes more sense after I tapped my finger like a heart-beat metronome and recited the verse to the rhythm. Easier to understand aloud. Oddly it reminds me of music.

>>8520854
wow your metrics are godawful. this probably confused OP more than helped him.

>>8520790
holy fuck half you dumbshits really don't get this

OP, iambic pentameter is five (penta-) sets of things called "feet". Each foot is two syllables, the first being unstressed (think quieter) and the next being stressed (think louder). So 5 times 2 = 10, there are ten syllables per line.

The reason iambic pentameter is so common is because it matches how humans typically speak. Less syllables would be very rapid and claustrophobic. More syllables would result in lengthy lines causing breathlessness.

More importantly, the reason poets stick to the meter is so that when they deviate from the iambs and ten syllables the effect is much stronger.


Here's an example of a couplet in iambic pentameter:

O' Death has brought about my final days
To live without my Love - my dear Harambe

>>8522291
the 2nd line has 11
and fuck your dead memes

>>8523152
not him but "what is feminine ending"

fucking cuck learn to prosody

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Watch this, does a fairly good job of explaining it part way through.