Iamb (poetry)
An iamb or iambus is a metrical foot used in various types of poetry. Originally the term referred to one of the feet of the quantitative meter of classical Greek prosody: a short syllable followed by a long syllable "beautiful. This terminology was adopted in the description of accentual-syllabic verse in English, where it refers to a foot comprising an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Thus a Latin word like íbī, because of its short-long rhythm, is considered by Latin scholars to be an iamb, but because it has a stress on the first syllable, in modern linguistics it is considered to be a trochee.
Etymology
R. S. P. Beekes has suggested that the iambos has a Pre-Greek origin. An old hypothesis is that the word is borrowed from Phrygian or Pelasgian, and literally means "Einschritt", i. e., "one-step", compare dithyramb and thriambus, but H. S. Versnel rejects this etymology and suggests instead a derivation from a cultic exclamation. The word may be related to Iambe, a Greek minor goddess of verse, especially scurrilous, ribald humour. In ancient Greece iambus was mainly satirical poetry, lampoons, which did not automatically imply a particular metrical type. Iambic metre took its name from being characteristic of iambi, not vice versa.Accentual-syllabic use
[Image:Iamb.png|125px|thumb|A metrical tree representation of an iamb. W = weak syllable, S = strong syllable][Image:Iamb2.png|125px|thumb|An alternative metrical tree representation of an iamb. F = foot, σ = syllable. The head of the foot constituent, i.e. the stressed syllable, is indicated with a vertical line.]
[Image:Iamb3.png|125px|thumb|A bracketed grid representation of an iamb. The xs in the lower grid are syllables, the x in the upper grid indicates the position of the stressed syllable.]
In accentual-syllabic verse and in modern linguistics an iamb is a foot that has the rhythmic pattern:
Using the 'ictus and x' notation we can write this as:
The word 'attempt' is a natural iamb:
In phonology, an iambic foot is notated in a flat representation as or as foot tree with two branches W and S where W = weak and S = strong.
Iambic pentameter is one of the most commonly used measures in English and German poetry, for instance it can be found in Shakespeare's Sonnets. A line of iambic pentameter comprises five consecutive iambs.
Iambic trimeter is the metre of the spoken verses in Greek tragedy and comedy, comprising six iambs—as one iambic metrum consisted of two iambs. In English accentual-syllabic verse, iambic trimeter is a line comprising three iambs.
Less common iambic measures include iambic tetrameter and iambic heptameter, sometimes called the "fourteener". Lord Byron's also "She Walks in Beauty" exemplifies iambic tetrameter; iambic heptameter is found in Australian poet A. B. "Banjo" Paterson's "The Man from Ironbark". Related to iambic heptameter is the more common ballad verse, in which a line of iambic tetrameter is succeeded by a line of iambic trimeter, usually in quatrain form. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a classic example of this form.
The reverse of an iamb is called a trochee.
Types of meter
Key:- Non-bold = unstressed syllable
- Bold = stressed syllable
Dimeter
Iambic dimeter is a meter referring to a line consisting of two iambic feet.The way a crow
Shook down on me....
Trimeter
Iambic trimeter is a meter referring to a line consisting of three iambic feet.We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
The only news I know
Is bulletins all '''day'''
Tetrameter
Iambic tetrameter is a meter referring to a line consisting of four iambic feet:She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;