For instance, if I have a 10 syllable line, it's pentameter but not necessarily iambic pentameter...
I'm writing something in heptameter (7 metrical feet) with each line averaging (but with exceptions) at 14 syllables, but from a logistical standpoint I can't really tell if it works.
Can someone explain the actual importance of syllables in poetic meter and give some examples of how something could be, say, pentameter but have more or less than 10 actual syllables?
Clarification:
Does the number of syllables define a poem's meter, or is it number of metrical feet?
I.E. would a line in pentameter NEED to have 10 syllables, or could it have 9 or 11 syllables depending on the unstressed and stressed syllables of the words?
I'm writing something in heptameter (7 metrical feet) with each line averaging (but with exceptions) at 14 syllables, but from a logistical standpoint I can't really tell if it works.
Can someone explain the actual importance of syllables in poetic meter and give some examples of how something could be, say, pentameter but have more or less than 10 actual syllables?
Clarification:
Does the number of syllables define a poem's meter, or is it number of metrical feet?
I.E. would a line in pentameter NEED to have 10 syllables, or could it have 9 or 11 syllables depending on the unstressed and stressed syllables of the words?