In which meter were shakespearean sonnets written?

Answer 1

The majority of Shakespeare's sonnets were written in Iambic Pentameter (ten syllable lines with the stress falling on even number syllables). One or two are in Iambic Tetrameter (eight syllable lines).

Other authors who wrote Shakespearean sonnets also usually chose Iambic Pentameter, though you also find occasional sonnets in Iambic Hexameter (twelve syllable lines), Iambic Tetrameter, and (very rarely) even more exotic metres.

Answer 2

Different languages have different metres as their natural Sonnet line.

In English, by far the commonest metre for a sonnet is Iambic Pentameter:

For whom the possessed sea littered, on both shores,

Ruinous arms; being fired, and for good,

But Iambic Tetrameter is also found:

My shrink said "lucid dreaming" tames

recurring nightmares. What the bleep -

And occasionally you will come across even more exotic metres.

Answer 3

Shakespearean sonnets were written in iambic pentameter, which consists of five metrical feet per line, with each foot containing two syllables and the stress falling on the second syllable. This meter gives the sonnets a rhythmic and musical quality.

Answer 4

Most Shakespearean sonnets are written in iambic pentameter.