ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -William Shakespeare famously used iambic pentameter in his plays and sonnets, John Milton in his Paradise Lost, and William Wordsworth in The Prelude. As lines in iambic pentameter usually contain ten syllables, it is considered a form of decasyllabic verse.

Detailed explanation-2: -Each of the fourteen lines of a Shakespearean sonnet is written in “iambic pentameter.” This means a line contains five iambs-two syllable pairs in which the second syllable is emphasized. Shakespeare was such a master of iambic pentameter that he even seamlessly inserted it into dramatic action.

Detailed explanation-3: -Iambic pentameter appears in all types of English writing, from rhyming Shakespearean sonnets, to blank verse poems, to plays.

Detailed explanation-4: -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.

Detailed explanation-5: -sonnet, fixed verse form of Italian origin consisting of 14 lines that are typically five-foot iambics rhyming according to a prescribed scheme. The sonnet is unique among poetic forms in Western literature in that it has retained its appeal for major poets for five centuries.