Various Forms of Poetry

My plan is to describe various, more formal (or at least formalized) forms of poetry on this page. I may even put up a concise glossary of terms that I'll link to the text. As you read about each form, you'll be able to click on any term for a more detailed description. It might be some time for that to happen though because it will involve lots of coding.

Today's Featured topic:

Iambic Pentameter

Look at your foot and wiggle your toes. That’s iambic pentameter. An iamb (sounds like lamb,; less fattening) is called a metrical foot. It has two syllables, the first unaccented, the second accented (when the foot comes down, so to speak): “about,” “include,” “a cat.” Pentameter means there are five (penta-) iambs in each line of a poem. For example:

“I turn and look behind me at my path,”
If you read that line out loud, speaking slowly, naturally, it sounds like this:
I TURN | and LOOK | be HIND | me AT | my PATH,

That’s it. That’s iambic pentameter. Shakespeare liked it because English is an accentual language and because after speaking a line with five beats, it’s a comfortable place for the actor to take a breath.

An important note: just because a poem is said to be written in iambic pentameter doesn’t mean that every single foot in the poem is an iamb. There are three other major metrical feet, and several minor ones that a poet will use to break up the monotony that would otherwise occur were the poem to use all iambs all the time. It’d be like driving down a road with pavement sections that go bump BUMP, bump BUMP, bump BUMP, bump BUMP, bump BUMP for miles. What is essential is having the same number of beats per line. Having five beats per line is very important to maintain a smooth flow down the page in blank verse. Mixing in various metrical feet among the predominantly iambic feet keeps the reader from either falling asleep or going crazy, as the case may be.

One last important note: it’s best not to worry about your feet and counting your toes on the first reading of a poem. Read poems out loud, slowly, as if every word is essential. (Hint: every word is essential.) Let the rhythm and sound carry you along. If you like the poem, you can go back later and look for the subtle tools the poet uses in constructing the piece. I've made two attempts at blank verse; the links are to the left, at the top. Here’s a fitting quote from the movieThe Big Chill :

Sam Weber:
[Sam enters a room where Nick is up late watching TV]
What’s this?
Nick:
I’m not sure.
Sam Weber:
What’s it about?
Nick:
I don’t know.
Sam Weber:
[Sam shakes his head, pats Nick on the shoulder, then sits in a nearby chair]
Who’s that?
Nick:
I think the guy in the hat did something terrible.
[shot of TV shows a man being thrown through the glass window of a door; ALL the people on the TV screen are wearing hats]
Sam Weber:
Like what?
Nick:
You’re so analytical! Sometimes you just have to let art... flow... over you.
[Sam rolls his eyes]