I really need help writing in iambic pentameter!

Question

I'm having to write sonnets for an English literature class I'm taking. The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet I understand, and I understand that it has to have ten syllables per line, etc. But I've realized that I have absolutely no idea how to formulate iambic pentameter. All of the words I seem to put together never work for the u/u/ format. I'm pretty much deaf to the stresses; when I try to identify them I'm always wrong.
This is what I have:

Life is right here and right now, don't miss out
There's so much to love and so much to feel
Never in my mind has there been a doubt
Love in the small things is what proves to heal
Kiss our great sun and romance out new moon
Like baby when first it's hand does touch
I promise you darling, you'll be healed soon
The deepest of colors; you feel so much
You feel broken, but I promise you're not
I know little one that he's in your heart
Stop thinking about you being apart
Drown yourself in wide-eyed optimism,
Do let in the world's romanticism.

I'm clearing struggling greatly with this assignment and I would appreciate some help more than you know.

An0nymous · Accepted Answer

The rhythm of Iambic pentameter is: da DA da DA da DA da DA da DA; note that this is 10 syllables in the line. Another example is the familiar "the mouse ran up the clock" line: the ^mouse ran ^up the ^clock, the ^clock struck ^one; again you have 10 syllables in the line. Note that even though all the words in this line are single-syllabled, there is only one way you can stress it. You can't say it with the following stress pattern: ^the mouse ^ran up ^the clock, ^the clock ^struck one; that would be "putting the emphasis on the wrong syl-LA-ble." (The technical explanation for all this is that each line has five iambs, an iamb being a poetical metrical unit consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. In the previous line the five iambs are: the ^mouse; ran ^up; the ^clock; the ^clock; struck ^one. Note that all of Shakespeare's plays - Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, etc. - are written mostly in unrhymed iambic pentameter verse.)

The rhythm is off in your sonnet (and it's missing the 11th line), and the way you fix this is by changing the word order, and adding or omitting some words, so that you get the right stress pattern. For example:

Right ^here, right ^now, life's ^goin', so ^don't miss ^out.
There's ^much to ^love and ^much to ^see and ^feel.
Of ^this my ^mind has ^never ^had a ^doubt.
It's ^love in ^all the ^small things ^that does ^heal.

The ^sun gives ^kisses, ^and ro^mance, the ^moon,
like ^baby ^when its ^hand gives ^first the ^touch.
I ^promise ^darling ^love and ^healing ^soon,
in ^deepest ^colors ^that you'll ^feel so ^much.

You're ^feeling ^broken, ^but I ^say you're ^not.
I ^know your ^little ^one is ^in your ^heart.
Just ^think of ^all the ^lovely ^things you've ^got,
and ^banish ^thoughts of ^you two ^bein' a^part.

You've ^got to ^play the ^part of ^Opti^mist,
and ^not be ^just a ^lone Ro^manti^cist.

I really need help writing in iambic pentameter!

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