Heroic couplet - Wikipedia Heroic couplet From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search A heroic couplet is a traditional form for English poetry, commonly used in epic and narrative poetry, and consisting of a rhyming pair of lines in iambic pentameter. Use of the heroic couplet was pioneered by Geoffrey Chaucer in the Legend of Good Women and the Canterbury Tales,[1] and generally considered to have been perfected by John Dryden and Alexander Pope in the Restoration Age and early 18th century respectively. Contents 1 Example 2 History 3 Variations 3.1 Alexandrine 3.2 Alexandrine and Triplet 4 Modern use 5 References Example[edit] A frequently-cited example illustrating the use of heroic couplets is this passage from Cooper's Hill by John Denham, part of his description of the Thames: O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull; Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full. History[edit] The term "heroic couplet" is sometimes reserved for couplets that are largely closed and self-contained, as opposed to the enjambed couplets of poets like John Donne. The heroic couplet is often identified with the English Baroque works of John Dryden and Alexander Pope, who used the form for their translations of the epics of Virgil and Homer, respectively. Major poems in the closed couplet, apart from the works of Dryden and Pope, are Samuel Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes, Oliver Goldsmith's The Deserted Village, and John Keats's Lamia. The form was immensely popular in the 18th century. The looser type of couplet, with occasional enjambment, was one of the standard verse forms in medieval narrative poetry, largely because of the influence of the Canterbury Tales. Variations[edit] English heroic couplets, especially in Dryden and his followers, are sometimes varied by the use of the occasional alexandrine, or hexameter line, and triplet. Often these two variations are used together to heighten a climax. The breaking of the regular pattern of rhyming pentameter pairs brings about a sense of poetic closure. Here are two examples from Book IV of Dryden's translation of the Aeneid. Alexandrine[edit] Her lofty courser, in the court below, Who his majestic rider seems to know, Proud of his purple trappings, paws the ground, And champs the golden bit, and spreads the foam around. — (ll. 190–193) Alexandrine and Triplet[edit] My Tyrians, at their injur’d queen’s command, Had toss’d their fires amid the Trojan band; At once extinguish’d all the faithless name; And I myself, in vengeance of my shame, Had fall’n upon the pile, to mend the fun’ral flame. — (ll. 867–871) Modern use[edit] Twentieth-century authors have occasionally made use of the heroic couplet, often as an allusion to the works of poets of previous centuries. An example of this is Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pale Fire, the second section of which is a 999-line, 4-canto poem largely written in loose heroic couplets with frequent enjambment.[2] Here is an example from the first canto: And then black night. That blackness was sublime. I felt distributed through space and time: One foot upon a mountaintop. One hand Under the pebbles of a panting strand, One ear in Italy, one eye in Spain, In caves, my blood, and in the stars, my brain. — (Canto One. 147–153) References[edit] ^ Hobsbaum, Philip. Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form. Routledge (1996) p.23 ^ Ferrando, Ignasi Navarro (1996). In-roads of Language: Essay in English Studies. Universitat Jaume I. p. 125. v t e Geoffrey Chaucer Works The Canterbury Tales General Prologue The Knight's Tale The Miller's Tale The Reeve's Tale The Cook's Tale The Man of Law's Tale The Wife of Bath's Tale The Friar's Tale The Summoner's Tale The Clerk's Tale The Merchant's Tale The Squire's Tale The Franklin's Tale The Physician's Tale The Pardoner's Tale The Shipman's Tale The Prioress's Tale Sir Thopas The Tale of Melibee The Monk's Tale The Nun's Priest's Tale The Second Nun's Tale The Canon's Yeoman's Tale The Manciple's Tale The Parson's Tale Chaucer's Retraction Other works The Romaunt of the Rose The Book of the Duchess The House of Fame Anelida and Arcite The Parliament of Fowls Boece Troilus and Criseyde The Legend of Good Women A Treatise on the Astrolabe Spurious The Cuckoo and the Nightingale The Complaint of the Black Knight The equatorie of the planetis The Floure and the Leafe Pierce the Ploughman's Crede Jack Upland Tales The Tale of Gamelyn Prologue and Tale of Beryn The Plowman's Tale The Pilgrim's Tale Language and Texts Rhyme royal Heroic couplet English words first attested in Chaucer MSS Tradition Order of The Canterbury Tales Hengwrt Chaucer Ellesmere Chaucer Harley MS. 7334 Adam Pinkhurst Scribe D Related Chaucer's influence on fifteenth-century Scottish literature Influence of Italian humanism on Chaucer Philippa Roet (wife) Katherine Swynford (wife's sister) Thomas Chaucer (son) Alice de la Pole (granddaughter) v t e Works by John Dryden Essays Essay of Dramatick Poesie (1668) Translations Fables, Ancient and Modern (1700) Operas The State of Innocence (1677) Albion and Albanius (1685) King Arthur (1691) Poetry Astraea Redux (1660) Annus Mirabilis (1667) Absalom and Achitophel (1681-82) Mac Flecknoe (1682) Religio Laici (1682) Threnodia Augustalis (1685) The Hind and the Panther (1687) Alexander's Feast (1697) Plays The Wild Gallant (1663) The Indian Queen (1664) The Indian Emperour (1665) The Maiden Queen (1667) The Tempest (1667) Sir Martin Mar-all (1667) An Evening's Love (1668) Tyrannick Love (1669) The Conquest of Granada (1670) The Assignation (1672) Marriage à la mode (1672) Amboyna (1673) The Mistaken Husband (1674) Aureng-zebe (1675) All for Love (1678) Mr. Limberham; or, the Kind Keeper (1678) Oedipus (1679) Amphitryon (1691) Related Heroic couplet v t e Alexander Pope Plays Three Hours After Marriage (1717) Essays "Peri Bathous, Or the Art of Sinking in Poetry" (1727) Poetry "Ode on Solitude" (1700) An Essay on Criticism (1711) Messiah (English poem) (1712) The Rape of the Lock (1712) The Temple of Fame (1715) Eloisa to Abelard (1717) "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady" (1717) Messiah (Latin poem) (1728) The Dunciad (1728–29, 1742–43) An Essay on Man (1734) Moral Essays (1731-35) Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot (1735) Related Popeswood Binfield Scriblerus Club Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" Heroic couplet People Martha Blount John Caryll Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heroic_couplet&oldid=947425695" Categories: Poetic form Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Čeština Italiano Nederlands 日本語 Русский 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 26 March 2020, at 06:33 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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