The Winter's Tale Writing Style

725 Words3 Pages
The Winter’s Tale Writing Style Formal and Decorous, Iambic Pentameter Verse and Prose We’re not going to sugar-coat it for you. The Winter’s Tale has a reputation for its difficult language, which can be a bit off-putting until you get the hang of it. That’s because most of the action takes place at court and, as we know, the nobility tends to speak in a way that’s in keeping with their high social status. Like Shakespeare’s other plays, The Winter’s Tale is written in a combination of verse (poetry) and prose (how we talk every day). (Note: The play Richard II is the one exception to this rule – it’s the only Shakespeare play written entirely in verse.) Verse Reading The Winter’s Tale often feels like reading a very lengthy poem, and that’s because Shakespeare’s characters often speak in verse. What kind of verse do they speak? Well, the nobles typically speak in unrhymed iambic pentameter (also called “blank verse”). Don’t let the fancy names intimidate you – it’s really pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Let’s start with a definition of iambic pentameter: An “iamb” is an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. “Penta” means “five,” and “meter” refers to a regular rhythmic pattern. So, putting it all together, iambic pentameter is a kind of rhythmic pattern that typically consists of five iambs per line. (Note: Shakespeare varies the line lengths so not all lines are “perfect” iambic pentameter.) It’s the most common rhythm in English poetry and sounds like five heartbeats: da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM. Let’s try it out on Hermione’s line from The Winter’s Tale: the BUG | which YOU | would FRIGHT | me WITH, | i SEEK. to ME | can LIFE | be NO | coMMO|diTY (3.2.5) Every second syllable is accented, so this is classic iambic pentameter. Since these lines have no rhyme scheme (“seek” and “commodity” don’t rhyme), we
Open Document