Iambic pentameter refers to a poetry line that includes a rhythmic flow of words through the alternate stressing and un-stressing of syllables. In poetry, syllables are often referred to as “feet”. “Iamb” is considered a type of “foot” and when five of these are used in one line, they are referred to as being in a “pentameter”. “Iambs” basically contain a pair of syllables with one of them stressed during pronunciation. The other syllable becomes the unstressed sound and therefore resulting in an alternate pronunciation of the word or “iamb”. In an iambic pentameter, five of these “iambs” or words with pair syllables are contained within one line of poetry.

Using iambic pentameter basically makes an alternating stress of the syllables contained in the five words or “iambs”. The words used for each line are carefully chosen to follow the pattern of alternating stresses in each syllable in terms of pronunciation. The basic rhythm of an iambic pentameter is like using “HO-HUM” five times in a given line. Using this example, chanting “Ho-Hum, Ho-Hum, Ho-Hum, Ho-Hum, Ho-Hum” produces an alternating and rhythmic sound with the stress put in “Hum”. With five alternating pairs of words, the line of poetry becomes an iambic pentameter.

The work of many poets including that of Shakespeare also contains various lines that are classified as iambic pentameters. In the popular line “If music be the food of love, play on”, the stress is alternating from the 2nd syllable onwards making this line a classic iambic pentameter. There are cases though that an additional syllable is inserted in between a classic line of poetry containing iambic pentameter. There are also cases wherein additional stressing of another syllable or word is put in the ending of a particular line to give emphasis on a particular word. With these insertions, the classic iambic pentameter will contain more than 10 syllables.