Heroic
couplet:
A pair of iambic pentameter verse lines which rhyme
together. A heroic couplet is a
traditional form for English poetry. It is commonly used for epic and narrative
poetry. It refers to poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming pairs of iambic
pentameter lines
Example of Heroic Couplet:
But when/
to mis / chief mor / tals bend / their will
How soon
/ they find / fit ins / truments/ of ill!
(Pope: The Rape of the Lock)
Each of these lines consists of five iambic feet. In each
pair the first syllable is unstressed and the second syllable is stressed. Such
five feet arranged in a verse line are called iambic pentameter. When two such
iambic pentameter lines end with similar sounds as in these lines (will=ill)
they are called heroic couplet.