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Shakespeare’s Verse
Iambic Pentameter
Blank Verse
Unrhymed lines
10 syllables long
Alternating stresses as in
spoken language
Divided into 5 “feet”
Sample
Macbeth:
So foul and fair a day I have not
seen.
Banquo:
What are these, so wither’d in
their attire, that look not like
the inhabitants o’ the earth,
And yet are on’t?
Elided Words
Words such as ‘th’inhabitants,
“o”, on’t
Used to maintain flow of
stressed syllables
Resembles natural speech
Variations
Sometimes the flow of the
verse is altered to change the
mood:
Witches speech is more
choppy
Lady M’s sleeping scene is
more intense and unnatural
Sleepwalking
Out, damned spot! Out I say!
One: two: why then ‘tis time
to do’t. Hell is murky.
The Thane of Fife had a wife.
Where is she now?
What will these hands never be
clean?
Rhyming Couplets
Used to indicate the end of a
scene to the audience
Example:
Away and mock the time with
fairest show
False face must hide what the
false heart doth know
Puns
A pun is a play on words
Uses a word or words that
have more than one meaning
Homographic Puns
Depend on words that look
alike but have multiple
meanings
E.g. A dog not only has a fur
coat, but also pants
Homophonic Puns
Depend on words that sound
the same but have different
meanings
E.g. Two peanuts were
walking down the street; one
was assaulted
“Assaulted” sounds like
“salted”
Ha Ha
I work as a baker, because I
knead the dough