Question

2. Stressed and unstressed syllables are marked in lines 1–2. Read these lines aloud, emphasizing the stressed words.

Answer 1

The stressed syllables are the ones most prominent when read aloud. Take a look at the sample below. The stressed syllables are in bold print.

Derision fails; the exile goes his way

In hopeless fog to find his place someday.

The stressed syllables are in metrical feet. Each foot has a set number of syllables. Poetry can also have a set number of feet per line. Each foot in the above two lines is two syllables with the second syllable stressed. This kind of foot is called an iamb. Each line has five feet and is called pentameter. So, those two lines are known as iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is widely used in English because it is heightened language that most closely approximates spoken English.