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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
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of heroic couplet1

First recorded in 1900–05
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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.”

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.

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.

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.

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

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