Can iambic pentameter very between the lines of a sonnet?
Many accomplished poets use metrical substitutions when writing iambic pentameter, whether in blank verse or in rhymed forms such as the sonnet. Using an occasional trochee in place of an iamb (DUM-da instead of da-DUM) is one common substitution. It’s also acceptable to write a nine-syllable line that starts with a “headless iamb,” a stressed syllable without the unstressed syllable ahead of it, and to write an 11-syllable line with an extra unstressed syllable at the end. One of the most famous lines of iambic pentameter in all of literature — “To be, or not to be, that is the question” — is an 11-syllable variant. The more poetry you read, the more you’ll find metrical substitutions used by good poets who know what they’re doing. Their substitutions keep the iambic pentameter from becoming sing-song or metronomic. It’s best to master the rules of formal verse before you start playing around with variations, but don’t let anybody tell you that variations are completely unacceptable
