Title: “O, fie, fie, fie!” -- The Psychology of Meter and Rhythm
Plays/Scenes covered: Measure for Measure, 2.2.198-224 (Angelo’s monologue)
What’s on for Today and Why:
Students will examine how Shakespeare manipulates the iambic pentameter line to give his characters,
and the players playing them, clues about what’s happening emotionally and psychologically in the
situations they face in the play.
This lesson will reveal how meter and rhythm serve a practical purpose; students will discover how
these formal elements are part of the whole story that Shakespeare is telling.
What to do:
This lesson will take two or three 45-minute periods.
1) Meter and Rhythm refresher: what do “meter,” “rhythm,” and “iambic pentameter” mean? Here,
teachers may want to refer to the lesson on iambic pentameter found in lesson 5 of the Midsummer
Night’s Dream unit plan in Shakespeare Set Free. They may also use the Folger video, Living Iambic
Pentameter
2) Distribute or project handouts containing examples of these two perfect iambic pentameter lines.
In sooth I know not why I am so sad
So foul and fair a day I have not seen
Have the students read the lines chorally, and encourage students to over-emphasize the “de DUM”
rhythm of the lines. Do this a few times until students commit one or both of the lines to memory (this
won’t take too long).
3) Have students “trot” around the room speaking one or both of the lines so that they feel the iambic
rhythm in their bodies. As they trot, they should lift a leg on the unstressed syllables (the “de” part),
and a foot should hit the floor when they speak a stressed syllable (the “DUM” part). Students should
repeat this for a few minutes so that they feel a natural correspondence between their speech and the
movement of their bodies. You may also have them start by simply saying “de DUM” while trotting.
4) After they have done this for awhile, have students sit in a circle and read through Angelo’s
monologue chorally at least twice. Discuss and have students look up any unfamiliar terms. Then have
students read individually, switching readers at every full stop (period, colon, question mark, etc.).
5) Split the class into 5 groups and assign the following to each:
Group 1, lines 198-202
Group 2, lines 203-208
Group 3, lines 209-213
Group 4, lines 214-218
Group 5, lines 219-224
Working in groups, students should take their assigned lines and put them in their bodies by trotting
them out. At first, the group should attempt to make the lines adhere to a strict iambic rhythm, and they
should observe and discuss what did or didn’t feel right. Did their “trot” mirror the rhythm of the line?
If not, which was dominant: the rhythm of the verse or movement of their feet?
6) Students should now “trot” the lines again, allowing their bodies to move as the rhythm of the lines
do -- i.e., as it feels most natural. The groups should take turns: as one group trots, the others should
observe what’s happening. The groups should rotate so that each has a turn trotting and observing.
When every group has had a turn, facilitate a reflective discussion on the what students noticed about
the relationship between the rhythm and their bodies. Why isn’t everything strictly iambic? What do the
lines suggest is happening in Angelo’s mind? More importantly, where in the text do students see
changes in rhythm occurring?
7) Working in groups, students should now scan their group’s lines (see Angelo’s speech broken into
segments at the end of this lesson). For the moment, they should simply place a “/” over syllables they
believe are stressed and a “U” over syllables they think are unstressed. When they’re done, each group
should then present their “trot” according to the decisions they came to as they scanned each line. And
then the whole monologue should be performed with each successive group picking up where the
previous group left off. If time allows, students may break their lines into feet (i.e., indicate a division
after every two syllables; this will give them fully scanned lines).
What you need:
● Folger Measure for Measure
● handouts or projections of two perfect iambic pentameter lines
● markers
● an open space
How did it go? Group discussion. What did you notice? What did you hear? What did the rhythm of
the line make you feel in your body? Remind students that the iambic pentameter line is Shakespeare’s
starting point -- a sort of neutral position that he modifies for various reasons. Why might Shakespeare
manipulate this rhythm at times? Could it reflect the emotional and/or psychological state of a
character? Ask students if they can make connections between the way Shakespeare changes form and
the way we change our way of speaking in different circumstances. What form does our speech take
when we are scared? Worried? Happy? Angry?
What next?
This lesson can be applied to any verse speech in Shakespeare’s works, and it can work in dialogue
sections as well.
Possibilities include:
Twelfth Night
Viola, 2.2.17-41 (“I left no ring with her”)
Sebastian, 4.3.1-22 (“That is the air”)
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth, 1.5.45-61 (“The raven himself is hoarse”)
Macbeth, 1.7.1-28 (“If it were done”)
Macbeth, 2.1.44-77 (“Is this a dagger”)
Henry IV, Part 1
Prince Hal, 1.2.202-24 (“I know you all”)
Hotspur, 1.3.30-71 (“My liege, I did deny no prisoners”)
Hotspur, 3.1.152-69 (“I cannot choose. Sometimes he angers me”)
Try this with other verse forms. Browning’s monologue poems like “My Last Duchess” or Tennyson’s
“Ulysses” can be studied using this lesson.
Common Core State Standards, Grades 9 - 12
Grades 9 & 10
Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the
text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective
summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.3
Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the
course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
Craft and Structure:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and
connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g.,
how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.10
By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the
grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the
high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the
high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Grades 11 & 12
Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course
of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide
an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or
drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and
developed).
Craft and Structure:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and
connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words
with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare
as well as other authors.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5
Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of
where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall
structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.6
Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text
from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the
grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the
high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the
high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Angelo (2.2.198-202)
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
Not she; nor doth she tempt; but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live!
Thieves for their robbery have authority
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her
That I desire to hear her speak again
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook. Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet
With all her double vigor, art and nature,
Once stir my temper, but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smil’d and wondered how.