How to Write Iambic Pentameter With David Mamet

In the English language, iambic pentameter is a type of verse that alternates short syllables and long syllables to create a rhythm. In English writing, rhythm is measured by groups of syllables called “feet.” Iambic pentameter uses a type of foot called an “iamb,” which is a short, unstressed syllable followed by a longer, stressed syllable. A line written in iambic pentameter contains five iambic feet—hence, pentameter.

The simplest example of iambic verse is a human heartbeat, which is a small beat followed by a larger beat: da-DUM. Iambic pentameter, then, sounds something like this: “da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM.”

For a classic example of this rhythm, consider the opening line of William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18”:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
shall I com-PARE thee TO a SUM-mer's DAY?

Iambic pentameter appears in all types of English writing, from rhyming Shakespearean sonnets, to blank verse poems, to plays. While there are other iambic verse forms, including trimeter (three iambs), tetrameter (four iambs), and hexameter (six iambs), iambic pentameter is the most famous due to its popularity with Shakespeare and other Elizabethan poets.

Because of its highly structured stressed-unstressed format, iambic pentameter is generally not found in free verse or prose writing. However, because it mirrors a comfortable cadence of English speech and conversation, keen observers can find examples of iambic pentameter just about anywhere. In fact, iambic pentameter can be an effective tool for writing dialogue in plays or movies.

If you’re looking for examples of iambic pentameter, consult the following famous works:

1. 1. “Holy Sonnets: Batter my heart three-personed God” by John Donne
2. 2. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
3. 3. Paradise Lost by John Milton
4. 4. “The Miller’s Tale” from the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
5. 5. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

If you’re thinking iambic pentameter is only for the dead masters, look no further than the work of award-winning playwright David Mamet. A prolific dramatist, David won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1984 for Glengarry Glen Ross, and has earned a reputation for his trademark dialogue and realistic working-class characters.

According to David, iambic pentameter isn’t just a style of writing we learn when we’re forced to read Shakespeare’s sonnets. Instead, he says, it’s the most rhythmically natural way humans speak. So if you want to write dialogue like David, you must first learn the basics of iambic pentameter, then apply them to your characters to lift them off the pages and into real life.

David is known for his dialogue because it feels natural, both to the actors who are speaking it and to the audience. This is due not only to David’s keen sense of vocabulary and lexicon, but also his sense of the natural rhythms of speech. When people are in conversation, they’re creating subtle patterns through the natural flow, ebb, and interruptions of their speech. In this sense, a play is essentially a poem written for several voices.

“You have to write in rhythmic way, because human speech is rhythmic,” David says. “And if you listen to people having a conversation, what they’re doing is creating a rhythmic poetry. They’re filling in the pauses and capping each other’s speech and so forth in a way that is rhythmic.” The secret to great dialogue therefore lies in the writer’s power of observation. The next time you go to a cafe, bar, or restaurant, take note of the cadence of speech, the “da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM” of iambic pentameter, and translate that into well-crafted yet natural-sounding dialogue.

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