@Hypocrisy_Central: Ah, but I did. “Hats off,” I say.
It’s is not a question of enlightenment, is it? You ask for iambic pentameter; it has a rigorous format. Short LONG, short LONG, short LONG, short LONG, short LONG.
There is no deviation; poetic meter and form require meticulousness. If you count syllables, you are talking about an entirely different form of poetry and one that rarely works in English. Don’t gloss over what is very complicated language. It is like trying to write music without using the traditional staffs, clefs and annotation.
Be a gentleman and take your licks graciously.
And then enjoy reading Paul Fussell’s Poetic Meter and Poetic Form
“This book is a classic of prosodic exposition. (And understand, when I call a book a classic, I am not just lapsing into a cliche; it really IS a classic.) Fussell shows us the relations between form and content, between rhyme and rhythm on the one hand and the function of these formal devices to illuminate meaning on the other.
”This book also devotes a chapter to empirical observations on the properties of free verse, and it includes a concise bibliography of other works on prosody. Highly recommended.” Amazon review