The Heroic Couplet
Examples are from John Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem.1. Heroic couplets are rhymed iambic pentameter:
~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ /
~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / In pi / ous times / ere priest / craft did / begin Before / poly / gamy / was made / a sin, The accent or stress pattern (~ / ) may vary (slightly or greatly). Such variation is worth noticing:
/ / Plots, true/ or false,/ are ne/ cesa/ ry things, To raise/ up com/ monwealths/ and ru/ in kings. (ll. 83-4) 2. The mid-line pause (caesura) usually occurs after the fourth syllable:
~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / Else why/ should he // with wealth/ and hon/ our blest, ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / Refuse/ his age // the need/ ful hours/ of rest? (ll. 165-6) a) by grammatical completeness or apparent completeness:
Of these the false Achitophel was first;
A name to all succeeding ages curst: (ll. 150-1)
b) or by inversion of ordinary word order (especially subject/verb/object-complement order):
What millions has he pardoned of his foes
Whom just revenge did to his wrath expose? (ll. 123-4)
His courage foes, his friends his truth proclaim;
His loyalty the king, the world his fame (ll. 357-8)
Thus formed by nature, furnished out with arts,
He glides unfelt into their secret hearts. (ll. 692-3)
4. The second line elaborates and often significantly modifies the meaning of the first:
What cannot praise effect in mighty minds,
When flattery soothes and when ambition blinds! (ll. 303-4)
Yet O! that I alone could be undone,
Cut off from empire, and no more a son! (ll. 702-3)
The hungry judges // soon the sentence sign
And wretches hang // that jury-men may dine. (III, 21-2).
This moving court, that caught the people's eyes,
And seemed but pomp, did other ends disguise: (ll. 739-40)
Dryden seems more likely to use a chiastic pattern over a verse paragraph. See #9.
6. Enjambment is the running over of the first line into the second:
Then Israel's monarch after Heaven's own heart
His vigorous warmth did variously impart
To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command,
Scattered his Maker's image through the land. (ll. 7-10)
When nature prompted, and no law denied,
Promiscuous use of concubine and bride; (ll. 4-5).
Believe me, royal youth, thy fruit must be
Or gathered ripe, or rot upon the tree. (ll. 250-1)
Your case no tame expedients will afford:
Resolve on death, or conquest by the sword. (ll. 455-6)
What cannot praise effect in mighty minds,
When flattery soothes and when ambition blinds!
Desire of power, on earth a vicious weed,
Yet, sprung from high, is of celestial seed:
In God 'tis glory; and when men aspire,
'Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire.
The ambitious youth, too covetous of fame,
Too full of angels' metal in his frame,
Unwarily was led from virtue's ways,
Made drunk with honour, and debauched with praise.
Wallace C. Brown, The Triumph of Form.