Iamb

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An iamb is a metrical foot used in various types of poetry. Originally the term referred to one of the feet of the quantitative meter of classical Greek prosody: a short syllable followed by a long syllable. This terminology was adopted in the description of accentual-syllabic verse in English, where it refers to a foot comprising of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

In accentual-syllabic verse we could describe an iamb as a foot that goes like this:

da

DUM

Using the 'ictus and x' notation (see systems of scansion for a full discussion of various notations) we can write this as:

x

/

The word 'attempt' is a natural iamb:

x	/
at-	tempt

Iambic pentameter is one of the most commonly used measures in English and German poetry. A line of iambic pentameter comprises five consecutive iambs.

Iambic trimeter is the metre of the spoken verses in Greek tragedy and comedy. In English accentual-syllabic verse, iambic trimeter is a line comprising three iambs.

The reverse of an iamb is called a trochee.

Examples

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. (Alfred Tennyson)

And:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (William Shakespeare)

Key:

• Non-bold = unstressed syllable
  
• Bold = stressed syllablebg:Ямб

cs:Jamb da:Jambe de:Jambus eo:Jambo hu:Jambus nl:Jambe no:Jambe ru:Ямб sk:Jamb