1. Pick up your poetry journal and write at least 20 lines of your own iambic pentameter! Rules:
- Write some single lines and some pairs of lines.
- Write some lines, or pairs, that are conversational, some that are simple, some that are more complicated in construction, some that are descriptive, some that are silly, some that are grave.
- Write with increasing speed as rhythm and line length become second nature.
- While you may revise and rewrite, do not polish or strive for any effect beyond metrical.
- Try to use a variety of word lengths. Heed Alexander Pope’s warning against monosyllables: “And ten low words oft creep in one dull line.”
