Pentameter (, 'measuring five (
feet)') is a term describing the
meter of a
poem
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
.
A poem is said to be written in a particular pentameter when the
lines of the poem have the length of five
metrical feet.
A metrical foot is, in classical poetry, a combination of two or more short or long syllables in a specific order; although this "does not provide an entirely reliable standard of measurement" in heavily accented
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...
such as English.
In these languages it is defined as a combination of one stressed and one or two unstressed syllables in a specific order.
In
English verse, pentameter has been the most common meter used ever since the 1500s; early examples include some of
Geoffrey Chaucer's work in the 1300s.
The most common foot is the iamb, resulting in iambic pentameter.
Most
English sonnets are written in iambic pentameter.
It is also the meter used by
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
in his
blank-verse tragedies.
References
Poetic forms
Types of verses
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