Genre Studies- Unit- IV Heroic Couplet

 HEROIC COUPLET

Introduction

        The Heroic couplet consists of two iambic pentameters (lines of ten syllables) rhyming together. The following is the example:

We think| our fa| thers fools, so wise| we grow,

Our wi| ser sons| no doubt, will think | us so. (Pope)

        It is called “heroic” because ten-syllabic iambic verse, whether it rhymes or not, is the usual form for epic verse in English, celebrating heroic exploits.

Characteristics

·         There is a pause at the end of the first line, indicated by a comma, signifying partial completion of the sense.

·         There is a pause at the end of the couplet indicated by a full stop, signifying full completion of the sense.

·         The couplet is closed, not requiring the aid of either a predecessor or o successor to complete its meaning.

·         The rhyme is single, the rhyming parts of each line, “grow” and “so”, being single syllables.

·         The number of syllables is ten, the odd ones unaccented or short, the even accented or long.

Variations

·                 The use of the heroic couplet has varied from time to time and from poet to poet. It was practiced most correctly by Pope, and even he does not always conform strictly to its rules, for, as he himself aptly remarks,

Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see

Think what ne’er was nor is, nor e’er shall be.

·                 The heroic couplet was first used in England by Chaucer, who probably derived it from older French verses. Many of his Canterbury Tales are related in Heroic couplets. He was followed by Spenser, who employed it for his Mother Hubbard’s Tale, a satirical narrative in verse.

·                 The Elizabethans used it with equal skill in their poetry and drama. Shakespeare and Ben Johnson, employed it for the sake of variety.

·                 Dryden and Pope gave the Heroic couplet quality it had never possessed before. They imparted to it the easy vigour, and strength. They used it for various compositions – drama, epic, satire, didactic verse – which it served with remarkable adaptability. With the coming of the Romantic poets, the couplet structure was changed. It became enjambed. It became, in other words, a verse paragraph, Metrical variations were also introduced.

Conclusion

    By this time the heroic couplet had gone out of fashion. It was replaced by other stanza forms that afforded greater freedom to the writer. The romantics, who aimed at natural diction and were lyrical poets, had little use for it.