How Shakespeare’s Prolific Use of Iambic Pentameter Shows That He Was English and Not French
In a dialectical episode of The Language Files (previously) written by Gretchen McCulloch of Lingthusiasm, host Tom Scott explains why William Shakespeare could never have been French, as some proclaim, due to his prolific use of iambic pentameter. Scott explains that this particular rhythm to words, known as lexical stress in the English language, does not easily translate to other languages, particularly French.
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