The metre of a poem or a line of Shakespeare's plays is about the number of stresses in an individual line. The stresses give shape and pattern to what is being written. We use stresses in our speech all the time, we lay stress on words for emphasis and use stress patterns to give our speech interest- we do not speak in a monotone with equal stress placed on all syllables.
Look at the witches spell in Macbeth. It uses four stresses on each line throughout the incantation.
Explain this to students and then ask them to identify which the stressed syllables and words are. Mark these and practise saying the incantation giving the words the best stress.
Then ask them what the effect of a fast moving metre like this one is- Its regular and repetitive and it helps create atmosphere. Remind students that many of Shakespeare's plays were performed with the minimum of stage sets so the language was important to help the audience suspend reality and get into the world where the play was happening.
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