The Iambic Pentameter System…

A line of a sonnet appears as a measured unit 10 syllables long, alternating unstressed stressed syllables.

This inner measure or metre, allows us to hear the line’s inner relationship.

Our ear follows the pattern that is created, or deviated from, through a succession of lines.

Four lines is known as a quatrain, which allows us to hear the outer connections between the lines.

The first four lines are called the first quatrain.
The second four lines the second quatrain.
Together they are known as an octet, or eight lines.

Then there is a turn in the argument a.k.a. the volta or the jump.

The next four lines is the 3rd quatrain.

The last two lines are known as the Final Couplet
which sums up the sonnet,
or expands the argument of the sonnet into another companion sonnet.

So that’s the outward Form of a Sonnet.

NOW let’s go back to the internal aspect of the line for a while.
But Beware!
Because what you are about to read may cause some of you distress!
Remember if it all feels, sounds and looks like Greek to you, it is.
It’s based on Ancient Greek rules.

We say an Iambic Pentameter
verse line has 10 syllables,
or five feet i.e. ta tum, ta tum, ta tum, ta tum, ta tum.

(This basic rhythm changed English dramatic verse from a sing-songy bouncy rhyming language to something closer to speech).

The iambic foot, or iamb,
is an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable.

The trochaic foot, or trochee,
is a stressed followed by an unstressed syllable.

The spondaic foot, or spondee,
is two stressed syllables.

The phyrric foot
is two unstressed syllables.

These last 3 terms are the most common variations from the iambic metre within a pentameter line.

They allow for greater grace, variation and expressiveness.

Two other types of feet need mentioning because they are longer and also occur in this sonnet series.

The Dactylic foot, or dactyl,
is one stressed syllable and two unstressed.

It is used to make a Tetrameter line. Sonnet 145 is written entirely in tetrameter verse lines, which are four feet long.

The anapestic foot, or anapest,
is two unstressed syllables and one stressed.

So as G. T. Wright writes on p. 43 of his magistral book ‘Sh’s Metrical Art’ the features that make an iambic pentameter line are:

1. The 10 syllable iambic line

2. A conventional midline break (caesura and enjambement) in phrasing

3. Line-integrity (most lines were end-stopped)

4. A “smooth” reconciliation of English phrasing and the metrical pattern.

This completes our analysis of the internal aspects of a sonnet.

You can follow the links to the wikipedia pages on each term for more information. But what is on this page is more than enough to let sink in.

Do not attempt to learn this as if you had to pass a test. Just keep it in mind when you’re analysing your sonnet and learning it by heart.

Shakespeare and all his sonnetteering contemporaries were aware of these rules before they ever put pen to paper.

And so you have to be if you are going to understand how a sonnet works.