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Term Tuesday. A study of literary and rhetorical devices. Heroic couplet. Definition. Heroic couplets are lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme in pairs (aa, bb, cc). The couplet forms a rhetorical unit; it is written in an elevated style. In class example.
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Term Tuesday A study of literary and rhetorical devices
Definition • Heroic couplets are lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme in pairs (aa, bb, cc). • The couplet forms a rhetorical unit; it is written in an elevated style
In class example • Know then thyself, presume not God to scan The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Historical Background • Though this verse form was introduced into English by Chaucer in the fourteenth century, its name derives from its use in seventeenth-century "heroic" (epic) drama and poetry.
Why is it called heroic? • by the middle of the seventeenth century it was regarded as the proper form for dealing with "heroic" subjects--deeds of high accomplishment and matters of public interest and admiration.
Dominance of the form • For 150 years (1630’s—1780’s), the heroic couplet was the dominant verse form in the English language • never has any single poetic form before or since dominated the English language so insistently and so thoroughly
Literary Example • In Wit, as Nature, what affects our heartsIs not th' exactness of peculiar parts;`Tis not a lip, or eye, we beauty call,But the joint force and full result of all. • Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
Personality of heroic couplets • I am heroic couplets; most preciseAnd fond of order. Planned and structured. Nice.I know, of course, just what I want; I know,As well, what I will do to make it so.This doesn't mean that I attempt to shunExcitement, entertainment, pleasure, fun;But they must keep their place, like all the rest;They might be good, but ordered life is best.
Pope’s translation of the ILLIAD • On the plumed crest of his Boeotian foe The daring Lycon aim'd a noble blow; The sword broke short; but his, Peneleus sped Full on the juncture of the neck and head: The head, divided by a stroke so just, Hung by the skin; the body sunk in dust. ...
Write your own • Write a heroic couplet about your hero on an epic journey
Mrs. O’Brien’s Heroic couplet U / U / U / U / U / The Pyranees Lance Armstrong triumphed o’er. U / U / U / U / U / To be a part of famous biking lore.