Editing 79: Iambic Pentameter

In this part of the [[My Hobby]] series, the hobby is responding to casual questions using {{w|iambic pentameter}}. Iambic pentameter is a form of poetic verse defined by the number of syllables per line. In this form, a line contains exactly five (penta means five in Greek) "{{w|Iamb (foot)|iambs}}" per line. An iamb is a unit of two syllables with the stress falling on the second. The actual breakup of the words is unimportant; the definition is based solely on the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. One line of strict iambic pentameter will have ten syllables, with the stress falling on the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and last.

In this comic [[Cueball]] (i.e. [[Randall]] - the one with the hobby) is replying to his friends questions. (The friend also looks like Cueball, but are here differentiated by who has the hobby.) Cueball's responses are each one line of iambic pentameter, just visually broken into two lines for space reasons. They read (adding the emphasis):

:"Well, ''I'' can ''meet'' the ''plane'' at ''ten'' of ''six''" and  

:"I'll ''meet'' him ''at'' the ''stairs'' be''fore'' the ''gate''",<div>  

with a sort of bouncing rhythm (interestingly, both of the friend's questions are in iambs as well, though not pentameter). {{w|Shakespeare}} was one of the most famed users of iambic pentameter in his plays.  

This is the "strict form" of iambic pentameter. In practice, poets often strayed from the strict count of iambs as the image text suggests. Wikipedia offers two Shakespearian examples being "Now is the winter of our discontent" in which the first iamb is reversed ("Now" is stressed rather than "is"), and "To be or not to be, that is the question" which adds an extra unstressed syllable at the end. As the comic suggests in the title text, without such exceptions, it can be very difficult to stick to strict iambic pentameter for every sentence.

 

Iambs and other types of poetry "feet" is the subject of [[1383: Magic Words]].

:[Two identical Cueballs are having a conversation. The latter is identified as Cueball since he represents Randall who has the Hobby.]