iamb

Short-long syllable pair

An iamb is a unit of poetic meter consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable—da-DUM.

English naturally falls into iambic patterns: the HOUSE, a-LONE, to BE or NOT to BE.

Five iambs in a row make iambic pentameter, the dominant meter of Shakespeare and most English verse.

meter

pentameter

Five-foot poetic line

tetrameterFour-foot poetic line
trimeterThree metrical feet
dimeterTwo-foot poetic line

hexameter · scansion · foot · metrical · stressed · unstressed · syllabic · quantitative

poetry

sonnet

Fourteen-line metered poem

blank verseUnrhymed iambic pentameter
coupletTwo successive verse lines
heroic coupletRhymed pentameter pair

quatrain · stanza · verse · octave · sestet · rhyme · Shakespeare · Marlowe · Milton · dramatic verse

prosody

trochee

Stressed-then-unstressed foot

anapestTrisyllabic metrical foot
dactylFinger, toe, or verse foot
spondeeDouble-stress metrical unit

pyrrhic · substitution · variation · inversion · elision · caesura · enjambment · rhythm · beat · cadence

sound

heartbeat

Rhythmic cardiac contraction

pulseArterial blood throb
risingAct of ascending
binaryConsisting of two parts

Categories

poetrypoem, poems, poetry, verse, verses
poetry termspoetry, rhyme, verse, rhythm, meter
Crosswordesealee, aloe, epee, erne, etui
poetic devicesalliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, simile
poeticsrhyme, versification, poetic form, stanza, meter
rhythm termsrhythm, beat, tempo, meter, cadence

Opposites

metrical stress pattern

Stressed-then-unstressed foot

trochaic · dactyl · spondee · pyrrhic · anapest

Phrases

iambic pentameterUnstressed-stressed pattern, five feet
iambic versePoetry with rising rhythm

Family

Familiarity: Top 1,000,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G