Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter--lines with ten syllables, the rhythm being iambic. Emphasis goes on even-numbered syllables.
The sound is pleasing to audiences, and the pattern helps actors remember lines.
If a line in Macbeth is not iambic pentameter, consider these reasons for the variation:
a) Shakespeare wanted to call attention to specific words
b) the author didn’t see a need for all lines to fit the formula
c) the line as we have it may not be what he wrote
d) some words were pronounced differently
e) other possible reasons
When Macbeth speaks only one-syllable words, we have a line that is clearly iambic pentameter:
u / u / u / u / u /
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still
u / u / u / u / u /
I dare do all that may become a man.
u / u / u / u / u /
We shall not spend a large expense of time.
Here are two lines of iambic pentameter:
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not...
When I teach, I read some lines in an artificial way so the iambic rhythm stands out. An actor is more subtle. The rhythm is there without an actor calling attention to it.
Students can easily identify rhyme, but they struggle with rhythm.
Here is a poem with iambic rhythm, and the poem is about iambic rhythm:
I Am Iambic
Iambic rhythm flows the best!
It’s fun and will appear on tests!
The even numbers please the ear--
The second, fourth, and sixth are dear.
A line needs rhythm to be sweet.
Iambic rhythm can’t be beat.
Here are lines I teach from Romeo and Juliet:
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Shakespeare & iambic pentameter = examples from Macbeth (for high school students) iambic rhythm
