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

Example Sentences

Rhyming in heroic couplets, the poem takes its inspiration from Alexander Pope’s 18th-century mock-heroic work “The Dunciad,” which depicts journalists worshiping the goddess “Boredom.”

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He gave these verses to his friend Oliver Goldsmith to use in the poem “The Traveller,” which is basically an eighteenth-century TED talk, in heroic couplets, on the importance of self-actualization, even within tyrannical regimes.

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An English “Aeneid” first appeared in a 16th-century Scottish version by Gavin Douglas — highly praised by Ezra Pound — and was followed in the 17th century by John Dryden’s classic rendering in heroic couplets.

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He wrote in a smooth, carefully polished style, usually adhering to the traditional forms of English poetry, such as iambic pentameter, heroic couplets and rhyme.

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Deployed in his sparkling heroic couplets, the arguments and summaries are alive with wit, verbal agility and good sense.

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