#the breaking up of the iambic pentameter into increasingly irregular lines

[hamletthedane]

When Shakespeare describes the eventual end of human history as “the last SYLLABLE of recorded time” suggesting that the end of humanity will not be with a bang, a whimper, a gunshot, a sword, or even a breath, but with a syllable - a word….

And the fact that the line ends on the word “time”, which is one stressed syllable past its welcome in the iambic pentameter, suggesting that time itself continues long after human speech (iambic pentameter) has already ended AAAAAAHHHHHHH-

#macbeth #honestly Macbeth’s soliloquy is such a particularly brilliant piece of poetry #the breaking up of the iambic pentameter into increasingly irregular lines #the fact that half of the lines have feminine endings and he’s trying to cram three syllables into one #and also how both ‘tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’ and ‘creeps in this petty pace’ FEELS creeping and cyclical #love it