OBJECT 1: CLOTH
What is the beauty behind the iambic pentameter?
Iambic Pentameter is especially well-suited to English, because it mirrors the stress patterns that occur naturally in English. There are a lot of unstressed-stressed pairing in English (such as any time you have an article, preposition or conjunction followed by a noun), and a fair number of verbs that have the unstressed/stressed pattern too (reject, display, propose, withdraw, admit etc.).
Also, if you have a word with a strong stress on the first syllable, you just need to put a weak stress before it and it can fit into the meter. Sometimes Iambic pentameter, if read strictly, results in stresses falling in places where they would not in natural speech.
In many cases, it is not really intended to be read strictly - the meter can be fiddled with, by changing the stress pattern on one or more of the "feet" (e.g. "now is the winter of our discontent" - Richard III, inverting the pattern in the first foot, with a stress on "Now" instead of "is"), or adding an extra weak syllable at the end (e.g. "to be or not to be that is the question" - Hamlet).
However, the strict meter, if used well, can line up perfectly with the way a sentence would sound in natural speech (e.g."A Knight there was, and that a worthy man"- Canterbury Tales). And because it has ten syllables to a line, it's possible to fit a full thought into a single line. Without much tweaking, you can put a lot of everyday phrases into iambic pentameter (e.g. "if you would like us to return your call, please leave your name and number at the tone")
Source: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-beauty-behind-the-iambic-pentameter
Iambic Pentameter is especially well-suited to English, because it mirrors the stress patterns that occur naturally in English. There are a lot of unstressed-stressed pairing in English (such as any time you have an article, preposition or conjunction followed by a noun), and a fair number of verbs that have the unstressed/stressed pattern too (reject, display, propose, withdraw, admit etc.).
Also, if you have a word with a strong stress on the first syllable, you just need to put a weak stress before it and it can fit into the meter. Sometimes Iambic pentameter, if read strictly, results in stresses falling in places where they would not in natural speech.
In many cases, it is not really intended to be read strictly - the meter can be fiddled with, by changing the stress pattern on one or more of the "feet" (e.g. "now is the winter of our discontent" - Richard III, inverting the pattern in the first foot, with a stress on "Now" instead of "is"), or adding an extra weak syllable at the end (e.g. "to be or not to be that is the question" - Hamlet).
However, the strict meter, if used well, can line up perfectly with the way a sentence would sound in natural speech (e.g."A Knight there was, and that a worthy man"- Canterbury Tales). And because it has ten syllables to a line, it's possible to fit a full thought into a single line. Without much tweaking, you can put a lot of everyday phrases into iambic pentameter (e.g. "if you would like us to return your call, please leave your name and number at the tone")
Source: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-beauty-behind-the-iambic-pentameter
OBJECT 2: THREAD
How to Write a Poem in Iambic Pentameter
0:03 How to Write a Poem in Iambic Pentameter. The most common meter in poetry, iambic pentameter
0:09 is famously associated with William Shakespeare. Here's how you can rhyme like a modern-day
0:13 bard. You will need Understanding of poetic feet Understanding of poetic meter Rhyme scheme
0:20 Pen and paper Works of renowned poets and thesaurus (optional). Step 1. Know that an
0:28 iamb is a rhythmic unit called a foot and is a combination of unstressed and stressed
0:33 syllables. One word with two syllables, like "instead," could be an iamb, or two monosyllabic
0:38 words could be an iamb, like "she wants." Step 2. Understand that pentameter is a meter
0:44 that means the iamb is repeated five times. So iambic pentameter is a line of poetry with
0:49 five iambs. Use this famous line from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as a guide: "If music be the
0:55 food of love, play on." Step 3. Choose a rhyme scheme, like ABAB. Each letter represents
1:02 the ending sound of the line, so ABAB means the first line rhymes with the third, and
1:07 the second line rhymes with the fourth. Step 4. Draw a row of five short lines on your
1:12 paper. Write one iamb – one unstressed syllable and one stressed – on each line until you
1:18 have 10 syllables in iambic pentameter. Step 5. Repeat for the next three lines, making
1:24 sure the last syllable of line one rhymes with the end of line three, and the end of
1:29 line two rhymes with the end of line four. Step 6. Expand the four lines to create a
1:34 sonnet, which comprises fourteen lines of iambic pentameter. The Shakespearean sonnet
1:39 typically has a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The four lines together in a sonnet
1:48 are called a quatrain, while the ending two lines are called a rhyming couplet. Step 7.
1:54 Study the works of great poets who used the form, including Shakespeare, William Wordsworth,
1:59 Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Did you know
2:04 Did you know? Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6gxaL5wtLo
0:03 How to Write a Poem in Iambic Pentameter. The most common meter in poetry, iambic pentameter
0:09 is famously associated with William Shakespeare. Here's how you can rhyme like a modern-day
0:13 bard. You will need Understanding of poetic feet Understanding of poetic meter Rhyme scheme
0:20 Pen and paper Works of renowned poets and thesaurus (optional). Step 1. Know that an
0:28 iamb is a rhythmic unit called a foot and is a combination of unstressed and stressed
0:33 syllables. One word with two syllables, like "instead," could be an iamb, or two monosyllabic
0:38 words could be an iamb, like "she wants." Step 2. Understand that pentameter is a meter
0:44 that means the iamb is repeated five times. So iambic pentameter is a line of poetry with
0:49 five iambs. Use this famous line from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as a guide: "If music be the
0:55 food of love, play on." Step 3. Choose a rhyme scheme, like ABAB. Each letter represents
1:02 the ending sound of the line, so ABAB means the first line rhymes with the third, and
1:07 the second line rhymes with the fourth. Step 4. Draw a row of five short lines on your
1:12 paper. Write one iamb – one unstressed syllable and one stressed – on each line until you
1:18 have 10 syllables in iambic pentameter. Step 5. Repeat for the next three lines, making
1:24 sure the last syllable of line one rhymes with the end of line three, and the end of
1:29 line two rhymes with the end of line four. Step 6. Expand the four lines to create a
1:34 sonnet, which comprises fourteen lines of iambic pentameter. The Shakespearean sonnet
1:39 typically has a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The four lines together in a sonnet
1:48 are called a quatrain, while the ending two lines are called a rhyming couplet. Step 7.
1:54 Study the works of great poets who used the form, including Shakespeare, William Wordsworth,
1:59 Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Did you know
2:04 Did you know? Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6gxaL5wtLo
OBJECT 3: NEEDLE
Iambic Pentameter
Time to learn about iambic pentameter
Don’t be a Shakespearean amateur
If you’re playing Romeo, Hamlet or Lear
Pentameter’s here to help you perform Shakespeare
It goes like this:
Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH
Ten beats
Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH
Five feet
Two beats in afford, but most feet are iambs
Sometimes the ends of the iambs have rhymes
But hey, what is an iamb anyway?
Here, I’ll explain:
I’m an iamb. Duh-DUH. Duh-DUH.
An iambic foot has an unstressed syllable followed by a stress. Duh-DUH.
And that’s the kind of foot that I am. I am an iamb.
Trochee. Trochee.
A stressed syllable first and then a stressed one. DUH-duh. DUH-duh.
Duh-DUH. DUH-duh. Duh-DUH.
And don’t forget about me boys. I’m a feminine ending.
Instead of ending at the tenth beat, I just add one more.
That’s what a feminine ending is for.
duh-DUH-duh
Duh-DUH. DUH-duh. duh-DUH-duh
To be or not to be: that is the question.
Now is the win-ter of our dis-content.
But, soft! What light through yon-der window breaks?
But soft! BUTT SOFT! (Stop saying, “Butt soft.”)
Okay, feminine, I got this.
“But, soft! What light through yon-der window breaks?”
is on a time when our iambic really shakes.
Time to learn about iambic pentameter
Don’t be a Shakespearean amateur
If you’re playing Romeo, Hamlet or Lear
Pentameter’s here to help you perform Shakespeare
It goes like this:
Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH
Ten beats
Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH | Duh-DUH
Five feet
Two beats in afford, but most feet are iambs
Sometimes the ends of the iambs have rhymes
But hey, what is an iamb anyway?
Here, I’ll explain:
I’m an iamb. Duh-DUH. Duh-DUH.
An iambic foot has an unstressed syllable followed by a stress. Duh-DUH.
And that’s the kind of foot that I am. I am an iamb.
Trochee. Trochee.
A stressed syllable first and then a stressed one. DUH-duh. DUH-duh.
Duh-DUH. DUH-duh. Duh-DUH.
And don’t forget about me boys. I’m a feminine ending.
Instead of ending at the tenth beat, I just add one more.
That’s what a feminine ending is for.
duh-DUH-duh
Duh-DUH. DUH-duh. duh-DUH-duh
To be or not to be: that is the question.
Now is the win-ter of our dis-content.
But, soft! What light through yon-der window breaks?
But soft! BUTT SOFT! (Stop saying, “Butt soft.”)
Okay, feminine, I got this.
“But, soft! What light through yon-der window breaks?”
is on a time when our iambic really shakes.
OBJECT 4: COIN
In "The Odyssey", what does Calypso symbolize?
Calypso represents the temptation for Odysseus to lose his mortality, cast away his responsibility to his family, forget his kingdom of Ithaca, and to become immortal but lost to history, to his people, and any and all remembrance by any mortal being.
Calypso represent the temptation to take the easy way out. As a mortal being, Odysseus had suffered for 10 long years in the Trojan war, and then 10 long years in the Mediterranean as he tried to get home, since he was pursued by Poseidon, the god and controller of the sea, who continually put obstacles in his way. So having lost all of his men, Odysseus washed up on Calypso’s island of Ogygia, where he was found by the goddess Calypso. Having fallen in love with him, she promised him immortality if he promised to stay with her.
However this promise was loaded, because Calypso’s name means “one who hides and conceals”, thus to become immortal and stay with Calypso, one of the greatest Greek heroes would have lost his fame and his name, in the pursuit of living forever.
Thus Calypso is the temptation to take the easy way out--for Odysseus to lose his mortal body, thus all the pain associated with it, but also all the glory and triumph that come with mortal bodies overcoming the odds(like the wrath of sea god Poseidon).
Source: https://www.quora.com/In-The-Odyssey-what-does-Calypso-symbolize
Calypso represents the temptation for Odysseus to lose his mortality, cast away his responsibility to his family, forget his kingdom of Ithaca, and to become immortal but lost to history, to his people, and any and all remembrance by any mortal being.
Calypso represent the temptation to take the easy way out. As a mortal being, Odysseus had suffered for 10 long years in the Trojan war, and then 10 long years in the Mediterranean as he tried to get home, since he was pursued by Poseidon, the god and controller of the sea, who continually put obstacles in his way. So having lost all of his men, Odysseus washed up on Calypso’s island of Ogygia, where he was found by the goddess Calypso. Having fallen in love with him, she promised him immortality if he promised to stay with her.
However this promise was loaded, because Calypso’s name means “one who hides and conceals”, thus to become immortal and stay with Calypso, one of the greatest Greek heroes would have lost his fame and his name, in the pursuit of living forever.
Thus Calypso is the temptation to take the easy way out--for Odysseus to lose his mortal body, thus all the pain associated with it, but also all the glory and triumph that come with mortal bodies overcoming the odds(like the wrath of sea god Poseidon).
Source: https://www.quora.com/In-The-Odyssey-what-does-Calypso-symbolize
OBJECT 5: COIN
Waiting for the Barbarians
By C.P. Cavafy
Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
Why isn’t anything happening in the senate?
Why do the senators sit there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What laws can the senators make now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting at the city’s main gate
on his throne, in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor is waiting to receive their leader.
He has even prepared a scroll to give him,
replete with titles, with imposing names.
Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
Why don’t our distinguished orators come forward as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?
(How serious people’s faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home so lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.
And some who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
And now, what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
They were, those people, a kind of solution.
Source: http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=119&cat=1
By C.P. Cavafy
Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
Why isn’t anything happening in the senate?
Why do the senators sit there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What laws can the senators make now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting at the city’s main gate
on his throne, in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor is waiting to receive their leader.
He has even prepared a scroll to give him,
replete with titles, with imposing names.
Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
Why don’t our distinguished orators come forward as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?
(How serious people’s faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home so lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.
And some who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
And now, what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
They were, those people, a kind of solution.
Source: http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=119&cat=1