Definition of pentameter
: a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet
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Examples of pentameter in a Sentence
a poem written in iambic pentameter
Recent Examples of pentameter from the Web
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Mr Kinnear’s goal is to make the iambic pentameter seem as vernacular as artificial.
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Sarah Ruden took upon herself the Herculean task of translating Virgil line-by-line, in iambic pentameter, the normative rhythm of English verse, as dactylic hexameter is of ancient epic.
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Shakespeare’s iambic pentameters were sacred, precise as a page of music, never to be broken mid-line, even at a full stop.
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Among others, there’s Ranjit Bhatnagar’s Pentametron, a Twitter bot that couples public tweets written in iambic pentameter to create rhyming couplets.
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But then the poet, Guillermo Vilas, found the pentameter of his game, to the cheers of those who obviously preferred the poet to the punk.
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What started in L.A. in 2010 has become a full-fledged phenomenon in iambic pentameter: based on a suggestion from the audience, the Chickspeare troupe improvise a full play in five acts in the style of one of the Bard’s comedies.
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This Shakespeare engages in a Hamilton-esque rap battle, in iambic pentameter, shouting about the necessity of his verbal dexterity.
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Ditto for her English literature course the following semester – dissecting iambic pentameter in poems, reciting Shakespeare and connecting the Bard’s words to today’s society, analyzing Bob Dylan’s lyrics.
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Did You Know?
In a line of poetry written in perfect iambic pentameter, there are five unstressed syllables, each of which is followed by a stressed syllable. Each pair of syllables is a metrical foot called an iamb. Much of the greatest poetry in English has been written in iambic pentameter; Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton used it more than any other meter. Robert Frost's line "I'm going out to clean the pasture spring" is an example of it; his "And miles to go before I sleep" is instead an example of iambic tetrameter, with only four accented syllables.
Origin and Etymology of pentameter
Latin, from Greek pentametros having five metrical feet, from penta- + metron measure — more at measure
Other Literature Terms
PENTAMETER Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of pentameter for English Language Learners
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: a rhythm in poetry that has five stressed syllables in each line
Learn More about pentameter
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See words that rhyme with pentameter Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about pentameter
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