ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

FAMOUS PLAYWRIGHT POET AND OTHERS

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Shakespeare often wrote in ____, which is a line of poetry containing 10 syllables that alternate, unstressed/stressed
A
Blank Verse
B
Iambic Pentameter
C
Script Write
D
Pure Genius
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Iambic pentameter: A ten-syllable line consisting of five iambs is said to be in iambic pentameter ("penta” = five). Its stress pattern (five pairs of unstressed/stressed syllables) is conventionally represented U /U / U /U / U / Example: “The course of true love never did run true” (MND I.i.134).

Detailed explanation-2: -In metre. …the most common English metre, iambic pentameter, is a line of ten syllables or five iambic feet. Each iambic foot is composed of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Detailed explanation-3: -Iambic pentameter is a style of poetry, which refers to a certain number of syllables in a line and the emphasis placed on the syllables. While he did not invent it, William Shakespeare frequently used iambic pentameter in his plays and sonnets.

Detailed explanation-4: -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.

Detailed explanation-5: -A sonnet is a formal poem with a fixed structure. It is 14 lines long and each line contains 10 syllables. Sonnet lines are in iambic pentameter which means the line has 10 syllables in 5 pairs. In each of these pairs the emphasis is on the second syllable like a heartbeat.

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