SONNET- IAMBIC PENTAMETER

The length of the word doesn't matter. It is the stress of each syllable in the line.

Just say the line stressing the second syllables

not HEAV en NOR hell SHALL take YOU a WAY.

Not very good for iambic, the stresses end up wrong. "Take" wants to be stressed.

now IS the WINT er OF our DIS cont ENT
made GLOR us SUM mer BY this SON of YORK

Try the line this way.
Not Heav'n nor Hell shall break us two apart.

Not HEA'N nor HELL shall BREAK us TWO a PART.

ok, i think i get it, but now im kinda stuck on my poem. This is what I have so far:

Not heav'n nor hell shall break us two apart
For I, the charming prince from lands beyond
will swear unto you, and give you my heart.

I can't think of a good 4th line. I have this one:
For with you, I will make a special bond.
But I dont get the feelign thtat i works properly with everything else....

check the iambic in the third line. "Will SWEAR to YOU" is better than "will SWEAR un TO you"

Lots of ways to rewrite it.. You need to choose the imagery.

Here is a try at it.

Not heav'n nor hell shall break us two apart
For I, the charming prince from lands beyond
do ope my chest and bare to you my heart
I swear to you we have a special bond.

The last line of the quatrain in mine is weak. Your instincts are correct it should be the strongest to finish the quatrain. Remember you can move lines around.

Tis I, the charming prince from lands beyond
that heav'n and hell did try to keep apart
yet drawn were we because our special bond
did make me ope my chest and bare my heart.

Crappy poetry, but decent iambic pentameter.

Say the lines out loud and exaggerate the "da DAH da DAH" when you say them. It will help you to figure out when it works and when it doesn't.

Parados has been giving great advice, especially about which words "want" to be stressed and how to change them around.

I don't remember where I got this, but I think of it as heartbeats -- lubDUB lubDUB lubDUB lubDUB lubDUb lubDUB.

Parados' is a very clear explanation -- just remember, the "penta-" in pentameter means five. An Iamb is a lubDUB (or a da DAH), and pentameter means it happens five times in a line.

I had a teacher who gave us a wooden staff and had us thump it on the floor as we read poetry...

(Oops, put an extra lubDUB in there, you're right.)