What Is an Iamb in Poetry

Have you heard a poet or English teacher talk about iambic meter? Its a reference to the rhythm of a poem. Once you learn what it is, you will be able to recognize it in poetry and use it when writing your own verse. What Isan Iamb? An iamb (pronounced  EYE-am)  is a type of metrical foot in poetry. A foot is the unit of stressed and unstressed syllables that determines what we call the meter, or rhythmic measure, in the lines of a poem.   An iambic foot consists of two  syllables, the first unstressed and the second stressed so that it sounds like â€Å"da-DUM.†Ã‚  One iambic  foot can be a single word or a combination of two words: away  is one foot: a  is  unstressed, and way  is stressedthe crow  is one foot: the  is unstressed, and crow  is stressed A perfect example of iambs is found in the last two lines from Shakespeare’s  Sonnet 18: So LONG / as MEN / can BREATHE / or EYES / can SEE,So LONG / lives THIS,/ and THIS / gives LIFE / to THEE. These lines from Shakespeares sonnet are in iambic pentameter.  Iambic meter also  is defined by the number of iambs per line, in this case, five. 5 Common Types of Iambic Meter Iambic pentameter might be the most recognizable type of iambic meter, as many famous poems use it. Iambs are all about pattern and rhythm, and you will quickly notice a pattern to the types of iambic meters: iambic dimeter: two  iambs per lineiambic trimeter: three iambs per lineiambic tetrameter: four iambs per lineiambic pentameter: five iambs per lineiambic hexameter: six iambs per line Study  Tip: Robert Frosts Dust of Snow and  The Road Not Taken are popular in iambic studies. A Little Iambic History The term iamb originated in classical Greek prosody as â€Å"iambos,†Ã‚  referring to a short syllable followed by a long syllable. The Latin word is iambus.  Greek poetry was measured in quantitative meter, determined by the length of the word-sounds, while English poetry, from the time of Chaucer through the 19th century, has been dominated by accentual-syllabic verse, which is measured by the stress or accent given to syllables when a line is spoken. Both forms of verse use the iambic meter. The biggest difference is that the Greeks concentrated not just on how the syllables sounded, but their actual length. Traditionally, sonnets are written in iambic pentameter  with a strict rhyming structure. You will also notice it in many of Shakespeares plays, particularly when a higher-class character speaks.   A style of poetry known as blank verse also uses iambic pentameter, yet in this case, rhyming is not required or encouraged. You can find this in the works of Shakespeare as well as those of Robert Frost, John Keats, Christopher Marlowe, John Milton, and Phillis Wheatley.