How to write in iambic pentameter

We're reading Othello in class and I absolutely love it, so much so that I've been inspired to write something in iambic pentameter for fun. The problem is, I'm a bit confused about the stressed and unstressed syllables.

Each iamb (foot) is supposed to have a one stressed and one unstressed syllable. But, is this supposed to be a writing thing or a reading thing? Which is to say, should I generally be writing with the stresses in mind, or just put ten syllables in each line and rely on the (hypothetical) actor to read it with the stresses in the right places?

And if it's the former, how should I tell what is a stressed or unstressed syllable? Are some sounds or letter combinations inherently stressed?

Thanks!

This is actually the hardest part about writing in Iambic Pentameter because it demands that the words flow naturally within themselves. To figure this out, you have to know a little bit about language mechanics, particularly the invisible parts of English.

So I'm sure you already know, but Iambic Pentameter is constructed (in beats) as:

da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

with each da DUM being a single iambic foot. There are five of these in each line of Iambic Pentameter.

So imagine you have the following line in Iambic Pentameter:

The wolf disguised himself to fool the girl.

Notice that there's no strain on any of the words with a single syllable--the, wolf, to, fool, the, girl. That's because there's only one place you can put emphasis in these words, and there's no way to really botch them up. However, if you look at the remaining two words--disguised, himself, you'll notice that the emphasis still comes naturally, though it's only on one beat of the word. This is because of accents, which are invisible in English. Let me mark this up for you.

The WOLF disGUISED himSELF to FOOL the GIRL.

See how natural it is? But watch what happens to the flow when you change it up with emphasis:

The boy understood the power of please.

See how it's suddenly clunky? It's because you still have ten syllables, but if you read it in I.P. (Iambic Pentameter), it falls apart because you place the emphasis on the wrong syllable. To see it marked up:

The BOY unDERstood THE powER of PLEASE.

That's all wrong, right? That's because, naturally, understood is emphatically underSTOOD, and not unDERstood as it was coined. We're not taught to read it that way, so it doesn't come off naturally.

So, to answer your question, it is completely your job to write the iambs correctly! If you don't, then your reader will stumble, and it won't be smiled upon. So, in a nutshell, just have a firm understanding of English mechanics, especially in emphatic accents, because it's greatly necessary in I.P. poetry.

I hope this helps and isn't too technical or hard to understand. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Oh, and if anyone else has anything to add, please do. :)

-Lumester

Hi!

I am a theatre as well as English student so I know your problem.

For me, I couldn't write in iambic pentameter until I did a duologe from "A Midsummers night's dream."

:Oh why rebuke you him who love you so,
lay breathe, so bitter, on your bitter foe

This line is said by Demetrius, who I played. The first line demonstrates the pentameter. After this and read other parts of the play, purely looking for iambic pentamete (The duologe which this is taken from was perfect Hermia/Demetrius) it help with trying to writing. I found saying it and hearing it, then made it easier to writing in it.

~Retro Disco666

Thanks Lumi and Retrodisco. I'll keep that in mind. Some of my lines sound "right" and some don't, so I'll have to work on them.

Random note about iambic pentameter... we (well, my teacher/class) pronounce it eye-am-bick, but according to the Latin pronunciation of that letter combination I think it would actually be pronounced yam-bic. I don't know, just something I thought of.