Heroic verse is a form of English poetry associated with epic storytelling. It usually consists of iambic pentameter and often contains rhyming couplets. Heroic couplets may be closed or enjambed. The earliest examples of heroic verse are found in Chaucer’s poetry. Heroic verse was important in 17th- and 18th-century English poetry, particularly in the works of Dryden, Johnson, and Pope. Greek and Roman heroic poetry used dactylic hexameter.
Heroic verse is a form of poetry commonly associated with heroic or epic storytelling in English verse. It is also called heroic line or heroic meter. Heroic verse in English usually consists of iambic pentameter and often contains rhyming couplets.
Iambic pentameter, the meter used in English heroic poetry, is made up of five metric units called feet. Each foot is made up of two syllables. The stress falls on the second of two syllables, giving the foot the “dah DUM” format. In some cases, the stress in the trailing foot of the line can be reversed or altered.
English heroic verse typically consists of couplets, known as heroic couplets. These couplets may or may not rhyme. The English poet John Milton insisted that the correct form for heroic verse was non-rhyme, citing the example of heroic poetry in other languages that did not rhyme. This type of non-rhyming iambic pentameter is called “blank verse.” However, most heroic poetry in English consists of rhyming couplets.
Each line in a heroic couplet can represent a single phrase or concept, in which case the couplet is said to be “closed.” Alternatively, the meaning of the couplet may flow from the first line to the second, in which case the couplet is said to be “enjambed”. Most heroic poetry includes both closed and enjambed couplets, but the closed couplet is more typical of heroic line.
The earliest examples of heroic verse in English occur in the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, the 14th-century poet who pioneered poetry in English. Chaucer had a great influence on later English and Scottish poets. Heroic verse also occurs in Shakespeare, where characters transform into heroic couplets when they make significant dramatic statements.
Heroic verse was an important feature of 17th- and 18th-century English poetry by poets such as John Dryden, Samuel Johnson, and Alexander Pope. The Pope in particular made imaginative use of heroic couplets. In The Rape of the Lock, Pope used heroic style for satirical ends by describing trivial and ludicrous events in couplets associated with epic narratives.
The traditions of heroic poetry vary by language. Greek heroic poems such as the Iliad and the Odyssey were written in dactylic hexameter, a meter made up of six metric feet. Each foot, called a metron in Greek, consists of one long syllable followed by two short ones. Roman poets such as Virgil also followed this style, making it the default heroic meter in Greek and Latin.
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