Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

ACTIVITY 1: “Rap Shakespeare”

Iambic pentameter is a poetry meter that closely mimics the natural cadence or pattern of everyday speech.

Watch this 5-minute TED-Ed animation that sums up meter, line stress, and iambic pentameter for review.

Then hear from the Hip Hop Shakespeare Company for a 2-minute how-to on rapping the Bard.

Part A: Find two lines of dialogue in the play that represent pure or close-to-pure iambic pentameter by reading them aloud.

• Write the lines with gaps between each syllable.
• Analyze the meter of these lines and provide scansion marks over each syllable. Do this by drawing a / over each syllable that gets vocal emphasis (stress) and a U over each syllable that is not emphasized. You should see this pattern evolve:

U  /  U  /  U  /  U  /  U  /

Now, consider the use of emphasis in modern, everyday speech. Read the following line aloud to hear the natural stress pattern:

Today for lunch we’re having taco bowls.

With scansion marks, it looks like this:

U    /    U     /       U     /      U   /   U      /

To day for lunch we’re hav ing ta co bowls.

• Try switching the syntax (order) of the words slightly. Read aloud, then rewrite with scansion marks:

For lunch today we’re having taco bowls.