how do you know which syllables to stress for the meter?

eg. When reading "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows" I don't know why it's stressed as Boom ba-ba Boom ba-ba Boom Boom Boom (like the William Tell Overture). I wouldn't pick it up unless it were told to me, as I'd assumed iambic pentameter simply repeats Boom-ba or ba-Boom five times per line.

and I don't know why iambic pentameter should be any more favoured than say tetra meter or hexameter. I read it suits the English language more but I still don't get it.

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how do you know which syllables to stress for the meter?