examples of iambic pentameter in sonnets shakespeare

These Shakespearean sonnets had three four-line units, or quatrains, followed by a concluding two-line unit, or couplet. Shakespeare widely used sonnets in writing his plays. Sonnets in The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietĪ sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem that is usually written in iambic pentameter and that has one of several rhyme schemes. See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! That birds would sing and think it were not night. Would through the airy region stream so bright The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,Īs daylight doth a lamp her eyes in heaven What if her eyes were there, they in her head? To twinkle in their spheres till they return. Having some business, do entreat her eyes Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks: She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that? That thou her maid art far more fair than she:Īnd none but fools do wear it cast it off.

An example of this can be seen in Romeo’s soliloquy at the beginning of Act II Scene 2, also known as the balcony scene.īut, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?Īrise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Iambic pentameter includes five iambic units in each line. The poetry in The Tragedy of R omeo and Juliet is written in blank verse, poetry which is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Major characters have interactions with one another which include poetic elements.

For the majority of the play, the common people speak in prose. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is written in both prose and poetry.

Examples of iambic pentameter in sonnets shakespeare