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iambic pentameter
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Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales A 15th-century manuscript page from Geoffrey Chaucer's frame story The Canterbury Tales, which was mostly composed in iambic pentameter.

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Written by
Daniel Costa
Daniel Costa is a writer for Encyclopedia Britannica. He has studied applied linguistics, philosophy, and history.
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iambic pentameter, in poetry, a line of verse composed of ten syllables arranged in five metrical feet (iambs), each of which consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The line can be rhymed, as in sonnets or heroic couplets (pairs of end-rhymed lines found in epic or narrative poetry), or unrhymed, as in blank verse. The term derives from the Greek words iambos (“metrical foot”) and pentametros (“having five metrical feet”). This rhythmic structure was introduced to the English language in the 14th century by English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in works such as the epic poem Troilus ...(100 of 364 words)

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