iambic pentameter????? What's that???

Iambic tetrameter is a meter consisting of lines with five feet (penta is greek for five, hence "pentameter") in which the iamb (or "iambus") is the dominant foot (hence "Iambic"). Iambic pentameter is among the most common metrical forms in English poetry.

In verse, a foot is the basic unit of meter used to describe rhythm. A foot consists of a certain number of syllables forming part of a line of verse. A foot is described by the character and number of syllables it contains: in English, feet are named for the combination of accented and unaccented syllables.

A iamb is composed of a unaccented syllable followed by an accented one, like in the word "today". If you repeat today five times you get the pattern of the iambic pentameter.

da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM
(weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak STRONG)

or

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

ERRATA:

It should be pentameter and not tetrameter.
Also the last line should read: "If you repeat today five times you get the pattern of a iambic pentameter."

Sorry. I was writing in haste. The rest seems OK at a quick glance.

Point of trivia - the father of iambic verse was Archilochos of Paros from some 700 B.C. One infers he must have pronounced it arKILLoKOSE of PARos in order to keep the iambic beat.