2. BLANK VERSE
Structure of iambic pentameter:
•Five iambs per line
–iamb: metrical foot with two syllables—stressed, then unstressed
•Ten syllables per line (although exceptions do occur)
3. BLANK VERSE
Unrhymed iambic pentameter
Hamlet excerpt
Seems, madam, Nay, it is. I know not 'seems.'
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected havior of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
'That can denote me truly. These indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that within which passeth show-
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
5. CONCEIT
CONCEIT
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
- William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18
6. CONCEIT
“There is no frigate like a book.”
- Emily Dickinson, There is No Frigate Like a Book
7. SOLILOQUY
•Part of a play in which
an actor reveals his/her
thoughts aloud and by
oneself
Patrick Stewart in
Macbeth
8. SOLILOQUY
Macbeth
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
