heroic couplet

noun

Prosody.

1. a stanza consisting of two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter, especially one forming a rhetorical unit and written in an elevated style, as, Know then thyself, presume not God to scan / The proper study of Mankind is Man.

heroic couplet

noun

1. prosody a verse form consisting of two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter

Word History and Origins

Origin of heroic couplet¹

First recorded in 1900–05