The most common meter in English verse. It consists of a line ten syllables long that is accented on every second beat (see blank verse). These lines in iambic pentameter are from The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare:

Ĭn sóoth,/Ĭ knów/nŏt whý/Ĭ ám/sŏ sád.

Ĭt wéa/riĕs mé;/yŏu sáy/ĭt wéa/riĕs yóu....

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.