Just a Face and a Caption: Gratuitous Iambic Pentameter

Well, not even a face really. Just two stick figures and a bunch of text. Much as I like XKCD, this is not a very good trope image.

And while we're on the topic anyway, I appreciate that somebody has wanted to turn this into a Self-Demonstrating Article, but the meter breaks down in the fifth line, and it's pronounced penTAmeter, not pentaMETer.

But I think the image does demonstrate the trope and demonstrates its (mis)use in dialogue.

I don't think a better one would be easy to find given that this trope is all about words.

Therefore I'm voting keep, until such time as a better image is put forward.

edited 10th Apr '13 6:40:28 AM by UltimatelySubjective

Since it's potholed to Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable, I don't have an issue with the second part. I'm voting Keep Until Better Image Suggested.

edited 10th Apr '13 6:41:09 AM by Willbyr

Keep. I have no idea how you would illustrate the trope without a wordy page image.

What Maddy and Willbyr said.

This is strictly a word trope, so a word image does work. Not the best of images, but it's certainly not bad enough to pull without replacement.

The current image is fine.

You are right that the last line of the description breaks down. It's not the accent upon the wrong syllable that's my issue with it — that's a lot of fun — it's that, as far as I read it, there's one syllable too many overall.

edited 10th Apr '13 10:13:02 AM by Telcontar

I'm fine with the current image; it's wordy but there's no other way to illustrate the trope.

Another common departure from standard iambic pentameter is the addition of a final unstressed syllable, which creates a weak or feminine ending. One of Shakespeare's most famous lines of iambic pentameter has a weak ending:

× / × / × / / × × / (×)

To be or not to be, | that is the question

edited 26th Apr '13 11:05:11 AM by BluBeriPi

Clock is set.

Clock's up; locking for inactivity. No action is to be taken based on this thread.