Verse in Shakespeare refers to all the lines of a play that follow a specific pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. This pattern creates a metrical rhythm when the lines are spoken aloud. Shakespeare most often wrote in blank verse – blank meaning that it doesn’t rhyme – arranged in iambic pentameter. Each unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable, so that lines have a de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM pattern. For example, Romeo’s speech when he sees Juliet can be read this way: “But soft what light through yonder window breaks?”