Elegiac couplets began with a line in hexameter followed by a line in pentameter, thus creating a constant sense of rising and falling action. Dactylic pentameter was very important in the poetry of antiquity, and was usually found as the second line in an elegiac couplet. Dactylic pentameter has five stressed syllables, and a total of fifteen syllables in a line. Trochaic pentameter is relatively rare, as trochaic lines usually have four feet (tetrameter), i.e., a line with four stressed syllables and a total of eight syllables. However, lines begin with the stressed syllable and end with an unstressed syllable.
Trochaic pentameter thus also have five stressed syllables and ten syllables total, similar to iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter was the most common meter used in traditional English poetry and drama.
Therefore, iambic pentameter has five stressed syllables and ten syllables total. Iambic Pentameter: An iamb is a combination of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
