Heroic Couplet

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                          Heroic Couplet

The Heroic Couplet consists of two iambic pentameters (lines of ten syllables).
Eg:
We think/our fa/thers fools,/so wise/we grow,
Our wi/ser sons/ no doubt,/will think/us so.
It is called "heroic" because 10 syllable iambic verse, whether it rhymes or not, is the usual form of epic verse in English celebrating heroic exploits. 

Characteristics of Heroic Couplet
1. There is a pause at the end of the first line, indicated by a comma. 
2.There is a pause at the end of the couplet, indicated by full stop.
3.The couplet is closed.
4.The rhyme is single e.g. "grow" and "so".
5.Ten syllables.

Usage of Heroic Couplet
The usage of Heroic Couplet varied from time to time and from poet to poet. It was most correctly used by pope. The Heroic Couplet was first used in England by Chaucer. He employed in his Canterbury Tales. 

The Elizabethans used it with equal skill in their poetry and drama. For eg. Shakespeare and Ben Johnson. Milton and the metaphysical poet's had little usage for the couplet.

Pope and Dryden used heroic couplet for various compositions like drama, epic, satire, didactic verse. The complete structure of the heroic couplet was changed with the arrival of the Romantic poets. It became a verse paragraph. Metrical variation were also introduced. 

Heroic Couplet was replaced by other stanza form that afforded greater freedom to the writer. 

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