LITERATURE QUESTIONS
INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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“To be or not to be, that is the question.”
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“And the world didn’t even think of stopping for me.”
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“I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.”
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“I wandered lonely as a cloud.”
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Detailed explanation-1: -Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 starts ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? ‘. This line of poetry has five feet, so it’s written in pentameter. And the stressing pattern is all iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable):
Detailed explanation-2: -“Blank verse” is a literary term that refers to poetry written in unrhymed but metered lines, almost always iambic pentameter.
Detailed explanation-3: -Iambic pentameter is used almost all the time in Hamlet. One good example is the first line of Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy in Act 3 Scene 1. Try counting the syllables and you can see how it works: ‘To be, or not to be, that is the question’ (Hamlet, 3:1).
Detailed explanation-4: -Iambic Pentameter Literary Definition Iamb: An iamb is a metrical unit that combines an unstressed syllable, and a stressed (emphasized) syllable. Iamb examples: a-BOVE, at-TEMPT, in-LOVE. Penta: Greek word for “five.” Meter: Rhythm structure that’s used to keep a pace.
Detailed explanation-5: -Here are examples of iambic pentameter in use: From “Holy Sonnet XIV” by John Donne: “As yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend. Every other word in these two lines of poetry is stressed.