However you use it, iambic pentameter should give your writing a cadence that establishes a sense of order and flow. How to write iambic pentameter. In poetic terms, each line of iambic pentameter, 2. William Shakespeare, “To be or not to be” from Hamlet. To be or not to be, that is the question: is it nobler in the spirit to suffer? Slings and Arrows, Does iambic pentameter always contain ten syllables. The best examples of iambic pentameter contain ten syllables per line. There are poems written in this pattern that use lines of varying lengths, but are examples of iambic pentameter. Here are three very different examples of iambic pentameter in English poetry: Shakespeare's sonnet, In iambic pentameter, each line consists of ten syllables with an accent on every other syllable. Look for lines where the stress is on the wrong syllable and make adjustments. A helpful tip is to read your poem out loud to get a better sense of the natural rhythm. Review your word choice and wording. These five examples from Shakespeare and others will make you a master of the sonnet. Iambic pentameter is a pattern of unstressed, then stressed, syllables in a set of five for each line. This beautiful poetic form has been popular with writers for centuries. Here are some examples of Shakespearean sonnets not written by, Iambic is a metrical foot in poetry, where an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable. Iambic pentameter is a beat or foot that contains syllables in each line. It is a rhythmic pattern comprising five iambs in each line. These iambs are called the five heartbeats because they sound like da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM.