[pickemuphere]

I teach lit for a living, Billybob, and those lines don't scan out as iambic pantameter. Whoever taught you scansion did a poor job (no offense).

[Congressman Billybob]

You are quite right that this does not scan as pure iambic pentameter, that is: da DA, da DA, da DA, da DA, da DA However, both Pope and Shakespeare deliberately varied the meter from that classic metronome.

The reason I mentioned Homer is that I looked first for the five strong syllables per line, which was the crossover point between Homer and Shakespeare. Admittedly it is a rough match, but good enough to take note of, in my mind.

John