The Rhythm of Language In Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare favored one rhythm in his writing.... Iambic pentameter

Iambic Pentameter is a type of Blank verse. Blank verse in Romeo and Juliet occasionally breaks the iambic pentameter rhythm, but this is not a mistake, it just helps to make the lines sound more like actual speech.

What is iambic pentameter? Let’s break down the words. Iamb= a “foot” or the smallest set of repeated syllables in a specific pattern.

What is that pattern? Take the first line of R and J. Two houses, both alike in dignity Look at the rhythm of that line. weakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONG One iamb or foot would be one “weakSTRONG”.

Ok, I get iamb, but why “pentameter”? From math class, (yes, math in English class!) you should know what the prefix “penta” means. Right! It means five. And meter means just that, the meter of the line.

So put it together A line written in iambic pentameter is made up of the iambic, or “weakSTRONG” pattern, and there are five feet, or sets of iambs, that make up the line. in FAIR verOna WHERE we SET our SCENE.

Sometimes... Shakespeare needed to say something that didn’t fit, so he MADE it fit. that I must LOVE a LOATHed ENeMY. Normally we would say loathed as one syllable, but Shakespeare added –ed as it’s own syllable to make it work out.

Rhyming Couplets There is rhyming in parts of R and J. Usually this rhyming is found in something called rhyming couplets. A couplet is just what it sounds like- two lines.

Rhyming Couplets examples in Act II My only love, sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! (I,iv,154-5) (I,iv,154-5) means Act I, scene 4 (iv), lines 154 and 155.

Other rhyming couplets And what obscured in this fair volume lies Find written in the margent of his eyes. (I,iii,94-5) Compare her face with some that I shall show And I will make thee think thy swan a crow. (I,ii,93-4)

Most all rhyming couplets Are spoken by the upper class characters in the play. The rhyming affect signals a high class character.

How to mark syllables and meter ˘ / In Fair Ver O Na Where We Set Our Scene The ˘ symbol is called a breve. The / is called an accent mark. A breve indicates an unstressed syllable, and the accent indicates a stressed syllable.

Finally, the Shakespearean Sonnet A sonnet is a fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme (remember rhyme scheme from when we read Poe’s poetry?) of a Shakespearean Sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

The Prologue in Act I is a Sonnet. Two households, both alike in dignity A In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, B From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, A Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. B From forth the fatal loins of the these two foes, C A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, D Whose misadventured piteous overthrows C Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. D The fearful passage of their death marked love, E And the continuance of their parents’ rage, F Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove, E Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage, F The which if you with patient ears attend, G What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. G

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day? a Thou art more lovely and more temperate: b Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, a And Summer's lease hath all too short a date: b Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, c And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd; d And every fair from fair sometime declines, c By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd: d But thy eternal Summer shall not fade e Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; f Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade, e When in eternal lines to time thou growest: f So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, g So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. g

So, what does that mean? The speaker opens the poem with a question addressed to the beloved: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" The next eleven lines are devoted to such a comparison. In line 2, the speaker stipulates what mainly differentiates the young man from the summer's day: he is "more lovely and more temperate." Summer's days tend toward extremes: they are shaken by "rough winds"; in them, the sun ("the eye of heaven") often shines "too hot," or too dim. And summer is fleeting: its date is too short, and it leads to the withering of autumn, as "every fair from fair sometime declines." The final quatrain of the sonnet tells how the beloved differs from the summer in that respect: his beauty will last forever ("Thy eternal summer shall not fade...") and never die. In the couplet, the speaker explains how the beloved's beauty will accomplish this feat, and not perish because it is preserved in the poem, which will last forever; it will live "as long as men can breathe or eyes can see."

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; a Coral is far more red than her lips' red; b If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; a If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. b I have seen roses damasked, red and white, c But no such roses see I in her cheeks; d And in some perfumes is there more delight c Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. d I love to hear her speak, yet well I know e That music hath a far more pleasing sound; f I grant I never saw a goddess go; e My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. f And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare g As any she belied with false compare. G (well, that isn’t very romantic, or is it?)

So, what does that mean? This sonnet compares the speaker's lover to a number of other beauties--and never in the lover's favor. Her eyes are "nothing like the sun," her lips are less red than coral; compared to white snow, her breasts are dun-colored, and her hairs are like black wires on her head. In the second quatrain, the speaker says he has seen roses separated by color ("damasked") into red and white, but he sees no such roses in his mistress's cheeks; and he says the breath that "reeks" from his mistress is less delightful than perfume. In the third quatrain, he admits that, though he loves her voice, music "hath a far more pleasing sound," and that, though he has never seen a goddess, his mistress--unlike goddesses--walks on the ground. In the couplet, however, the speaker declares that, "by heav'n," he thinks his love as rare and valuable "As any she belied with false compare"--that is, any love in which false comparisons were invoked to describe the loved one's beauty.

Notice... That sonnets all end with a... Rhyming couplet.