Iambic Pentameter in the Course
(This is a modified version of a letter written to someone who was puzzling over the use of iambic pentameter in the Course.)
I want to address the iambic pentameter issue. It’s something I’m very familiar with. I’ve worked with it for over twenty years now. It is definitely for real—the Course does use iambic pentameter—though I think people are generally a bit unclear about what it is.
Here is how it works.
- Each line of iambic pentameter has five “feet.”
- Each foot has two syllables.
- In each foot, the accent goes on the second syllable.
To put that another way, each line has ten syllables, and every other syllable is stressed (beginning with the second).
One more rule: Each ten-syllable line must end at the end of a word, not in the middle of a word. It can end in the middle of a sentence, even though the more perfectly realized iambic pentameter (which is really in the Workbook and towards the end of the Text) will usually have lines of iambic pentameter ending at a comma or period.
Now, the stresses don’t always fall perfectly. Sometimes you get a syllable that is stressed where the stress sounds a bit odd. But everything else I have mentioned should work. As a result, there is a very real and discernible difference between sentences written in iambic pentameter and ones that aren’t. You can even hear it if you read it out loud. The material will have a heart beat quality to it, since every other syllable is stressed.
The iambic pentameter in the Text is more rough than in the Workbook. The Text’s iambic pentameter begins in Chapter 24. At that point the Text gradually starts falling into the meter. However, even then it’s still a little rough (which Shakespeare’s was also). The Workbook just suddenly falls into it in Lesson 98 (after the first line, I think), though even then some of the lesson titles are not in iambic pentameter (such as the famous “I am as God created me”). The Manual’s use is more sparing. It reserves iambic pentameter for particularly moving passages, usually at the conclusion of sections.
Let me try to show you the difference. First, a paragraph in iambic pentameter, from “Choose Once Again.” I’ll capitalize the stressed syllables, so when we see capital letters, emphasize those syllables. It might even help to read this aloud:
TempTAtion HAS one LESson IT would TEACH,
in ALL its FORMS, wherEVer IT ocCURS.
It WOULD perSUADE the HOly SON of GOD
he IS a BOdy, BORN in WHAT must DIE,
unABle TO esCAPE its FRAilTY,
and BOUND by WHAT it ORders HIM to FEEL.
It SETS the LIMits ON what HE can DO;
its POWer IS the ONly STRENGTH he HAS;
his GRASP canNOT exCEED its TIny REACH.
Would YOU be THIS, if CHRIST apPEARED to YOU
in ALL His GLOry, ASKing YOU but THIS: (T-31.VIII.1)
It helps to read it in kind of a sing-song way, to get the rhythm: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM. Five “da DUM’s” every single line (not sentence-line of iambic pentameter), without fail. If you can’t get that five-beat “da DUM” thing going, those five heartbeats, it’s not iambic pentameter.
Now let me show you a passage where it’s not present. This is from Chapter 12. The way to test it is to try to put a passage into that five heartbeat rhythm and see what happens. Try to read the following material with the stresses I’ve put in (again, emphasizing the capital letters).
The LIGHT in THEM shines AS brightLY reGARD-
less OF the DENsiTY of THE fog THAT
obSCURES it. IF you GIVE no POWer TO
the FOG to OBscure THE light, IT has NONE.
For IT has POWer ONly IF the SON
of GOD gives POWer TO it. HE must HIM-
self WITHdraw THAT powER, reMEMberING
that ALL powER is OF God. YOU can RE-
memBER this FOR all THE SonSHIP. Do NOT
alLOW your BROther NOT to REmemBER,
for HIS forGETfulNESS is YOURS. But YOUR
reMEMberING is HIS, for GOD canNOT
be REmemBERED alONE. This IS what YOU
have FORgotTEN. To PERceive THE healING
of YOUR broTHER as THE healING of YOUR
self IS thus THE way TO reMEMber GOD.
For YOU forGOT your BROthers WITH Him, AND
God’s ANswer TO your FORgetTING is BUT
the WAY to REmemBER. (T-12.II.2:1-10)
Notice how most of the stresses are wrong. When you say it with the stresses, it sounds stupid. Notice also how three of the lines end in mid-word, a total no-no. Also, notice how the lines don’t often end at natural breaks-they just end in any old place. Now go back to the first paragraph I used. Notice how all the lines end at either actual punctuation points or at some sort of logical break. So these are the things I look for. If you try to impose iambic pentameter onto a paragraph, the following should happen:
- Almost all of the stresses and non-stresses should work, should sound natural.
- No lines (of iambic pentameter) will end in mid-word
- The lines of iambic pentameter will end at natural break points, usually at punctuation points.
I want to expand briefly on that third point, for it is part of what makes the iambic pentameter effective. When you notice the presence of this meter, you will see that Jesus very carefully chose where to break each line. Almost every time, it is not only a natural break, but the break very slightly enhances the meaning of the passage. The meaning goes in just a little tiny bit more when you see where he decided to break the line.
Again, the Text will slide in and out of iambic pentameter, particularly early in its use of it. It may slide in and out in a single paragraph, making you really unsure what is going on-if the meter is present or not. Those are the real grey areas. In those places, you have to try it out by starting your line of iambic pentameter in different places and then see what happens, see if it works. But the Workbook is lock-step. It’s iambic pentameter is nearly flawless. And, as I said, the Manual reserves it for moving conclusions (usually).
My main point, though, is that it’s an extremely intentional and rule-based thing. It’s very precise. It’s not wishy-washy, but instead quite exact.
Bill Thetford was so taken with the iambic pentameter in the Course that he published a volume of Course passages laid out in iambic pentameter called “Choose Once Again.” I can see why he did. When you lay out Course passages in this way (speaking, that is, of the ones that are actually in iambic pentameter), it draws out the beauty and meaning of those passages. The passage becomes more than profound teaching. It becomes poetry.
In conclusion, then, here are the first three paragraphs of the section “Choose Once Again,” laid out in this fashion, so that each line is a line of iambic pentameter. Read them slowly. Pause very slightly at the end of each line. Hear the heartbeat running through the lines. And see if this doesn’t enhance your reading experience:
1. Temptation has one lesson it would teach,
in all its forms, wherever it occurs.
It would persuade the holy Son of God
he is a body, born in what must die,
unable to escape its frailty,
and bound by what it orders him to feel.
It sets the limits on what he can do;
its power is the only strength he has;
his grasp cannot exceed its tiny reach.
Would you be this, if Christ appeared to you
in all His glory, asking you but this:
Choose once again if you would take your place
among the saviors of the world, or would
remain in hell, and hold your brothers there.
For He has come, and He is asking this.
2. How do you make the choice? How easily
is this explained! You always choose between
your weakness and the strength of Christ in you.
And what you choose is what you think is real.
Simply by never using weakness to
direct your actions, you have given it
no power. And the light of Christ in you
is given charge of everything you do.
For you have brought your weakness unto Him,
and He has given you His strength instead.
3. Trials are but lessons that you failed to learn
presented once again, so where you made
a faulty choice before you now can make
a better one, and thus escape all pain
that what you chose before has brought to you.
In every difficulty, all distress,
and each perplexity Christ calls to you
and gently says, “My brother, choose again.”
He would not leave one source of pain unhealed,
nor any image left to veil the truth.
He would remove all misery from you
whom God created altar unto joy.
He would not leave you comfortless, alone
in dreams of hell, but would release your mind
from everything that hides His face from you.
His holiness is yours because He is
the only Power that is real in you.
His strength is yours because He is the Self
That God created as His only Son.
[Please note: ACIM passages quoted in this article reference the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) Edition.]