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#+TITLE: Learning Iambic Pentameter Verse
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* Foundations
** Understand the meter
- Iamb = unstressed (da) + stressed (DUM) syllable
- Pentameter = 5 iambs per line = 10 syllables
- Pattern: da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM

** Practice scansion
- Mark syllables in sample lines
- Identify stressed/unstressed pattern
- Use Shakespeare sonnets for practice

* Techniques
** Rhyme schemes
- Couplet (AA BB)
- Shakespearean sonnet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG)
- Spenserian (ABAB BCBC CDCD EE)

** Line variation
- Learn to vary starting stress
- Use feminine endings (extra unstressed syllable)
- Understand caesura and enjambment

* Practice Exercises
** Level 1: Copy and scan
- Take existing lines and mark meter

** Level 2: Fill in the blank
- Given half a line, complete the iambic pentameter

** Level 3: Write from prompts
- Start with 1-2 lines, expand to couplets
- Progress to quatrains, then sonnets

** Level 4: Imitation
- Rewrite a famous sonnet in your own words

* Resources
- "The Ode" by Horace (translation)
- Shakespeare's sonnets
- "A Sonnet from the Portuguese" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning