Heroic Couplets What They Are and What They Do

Heroic couplets are paired, rhyming lines of poetry (usually iambic pentameter) found in epic or long narrative English poetry and translations. As you’ll see, there are a variety of qualities that distinguish heroic couplets from regular couplets. Definition of a Couplet A couplet is  two lines of poetry that are right next to each other. And, more important, they are related and together make up a complete thought or sentence. Their thematic or syntactical connection is more significant than their physical closeness.  This quote from Romeo and Juliet  is a great example of a couplet: Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrowThat I shall say good night till it be morrow. These lines from Phillis Wheatleys On Virtue, however, are not a couplet: But, O my soul, sink not into despair,Virtue is near thee, and with gentle hand†¦ So while all couplets are two consecutive lines, not all pairs of consecutive lines are couplets. To be a couplet, the lines have to be a unit, generally self-contained, and complete. The lines can either be part of a larger stanza or a closed stanza by themselves.   Definition of a Heroic Couplet Several characteristics distinguish a heroic couplet from a regular couplet. A heroic couplet is always rhymed and is usually in iambic pentameter (although there is some variation of the meter). The heroic couplet is also usually closed, meaning that both lines are end-stopped (by some type of punctuation), and the lines are a self-contained grammatical unit. This quote from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 is a great example of a rhymed, closed, iambic pentameter couplet. It is not, however, a heroic couplet. If this be error and upon me provd,I never writ, nor no man ever lovd. This brings us to the final qualification: context. For a couplet to be heroic, it needs a heroic setting. This is obviously a bit subjective, but in most cases, determining if a poem is heroic is fairly easy. Examples of Heroic Couplets Some good examples of heroic couplets from poems you may be familiar with include: From John Drydens translation of Virgils  The Aeneid: Soon had their hosts in bloody battle joind;But westward to the sea the sun declind.Intrenchd before the town both armies lie,While Night with sable wings involves the sky. So lets go through our checklist: Couplets? Yes. The passage consists of two pairs of lines that are closed grammatical units.Rhyme/meter? Check and check. These lines are tight iambic pentameter and rhymed (with a near rhyme between joind and declind).Heroic? Absolutely. Few writings are more heroic than  The Aeneid. Another example: And he bigan with right a myrie cheereHis tale anon, and seyde as ye may heere. Couplet? Yes. This is a pair of closed lines.Rhyme/meter? Yes. The rhymed lines are in iambic pentameter.Heroic? These lines are from the General Prologue of Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales, an epic, heroic tale. A final example: Thus conduct won the prize, when courage faild,And eloquence oer brutal force prevaild. Couplet? Yes.Rhyme/meter? Definitely.  Heroic? Yes. This example is drawn from Ovids  Metamorphoses, translated by Sir Samuel Garth and John Dryden. So the next time youre wondering if the lines youre reading are heroic couplets, just check for these three things and youll have your answer. The Mock-Heroic and Alexander Pope As with all influential and important literary movements and concepts, the heroic couplet has its own parody—the mock-heroic, most commonly associated with Alexander Pope. Mock-heroic poems are thought to have been a response to the deluge of epic, pastoral, heroic poems that were being written in the 17th century. As with any cultural trend or movement, people were looking for something new, something that would subvert the established aesthetic norms (think Dada or Weird Al Yankovic). So writers and poets took the form and context of the heroic or epic poem and played around with it. One of Popes best-known poems The Rape of the Lock is a quintessential mock-heroic on both the macro and micro levels. Pope takes a minor transgression—the cutting of a young womans hair by a suitor who wants a lock of her hair as a keepsake—and creates a narrative of epic proportions, complete with myth and magic. Pope mocks the heroic poem in two ways: by elevating a trivial moment into a kind of grand tale and by subverting formal elements, namely the heroic couplet.   From the Third Canto, we get this oft-quoted couplet: Here Thou, great Anna! whom three Realms obey,Dost sometimes Counsel take—and sometimes Tea. This is, in essence, a heroic couplet (closed lines, rhymed iambic pentameter, epic setting), but theres something symbolic happening in the second line as well. Pope is juxtaposing the high language and voice of the epic poem with everyday occurrences. He sets up a moment that feels as if it belongs in Roman or Greek mythology and then undercuts it with and sometimes tea. By using take to pivot between the high and low worlds—one can take counsel and one can take tea—Pope uses the conventions of the heroic couplet and bends them to his own comedic design. Closing Thoughts In both its original and parodic forms, the heroic couplet is an important part of Western poetrys evolution. With its driving rhythm, tight rhyme, and syntactical independence, it mirrors the subject matter it portrays—tales of adventure, war, magic, true love, and yes, even a stolen lock of hair. Because of its structure and its history and tradition, the heroic couplet is usually quite recognizable, allowing us to bring additional context to the poems we read. Being able to identify heroic couplets in a poem allows us to see how they might influence and shape our reading and interpreting experiences. Sources Chaucer, Geoffrey. â€Å"The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue.  Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43926/the-canterbury-tales-general-prologue.â€Å"Couplet.†Ã‚  Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/couplet.Online Library of Liberty.  The Aeneid (Dryden Trans.) - Online Library of Liberty, oll.libertyfund.org/titles/virgil-the-aeneid-dryden-trans.â€Å"Ovids Metamorphoses.† Translated by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden,  et al., The Internet Classics Archive, Daniel C. Stevenson, classics.mit.edu/Ovid/metam.13.thirteenth.html.Pope, Alexander. â€Å"The Rape of the Lock: An Heroic-Comical Poem. In Five Cantos.  Eighteenth Century Collections Online, University of Michigan.â€Å"Romeo and Juliet.†Ã‚  Romeo and Juliet: Entire Play, shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html.Shakespeare, William. â€Å"Sonnet 116: Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds.  Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45106/sonnet-116-let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-minds.Wheatley, Phillis. â€Å"On Virtue.†Ã‚  Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45466/on-virtue.

Essay on Aging As A Mental Issue - 733 Words

Aging comes naturally and people should not be frighten be it. As it turns out the fear of this process is enough to speed it up. The negative attitude is a very powerful factor in this process and has a great effect on the physical aspect of aging. It is enough to put people into deep depression or lose their confidence with many other things like good posture. On the other hand maintaining a positive thinking can really slow the process down. In fact it can do miracles, regular exercises and healthy diet can bring new life. Often people feel threatened by aging and put a hold on their lives, while they should be constantly evolving as they go through life. With positive thinking, it is all possible. This paper will show that despite†¦show more content†¦Being married, and have children somehow completes their life. Some people accept the changes aging brings, they live their live just like before, only a little bit ‘slower’, while others have hard time coping. Coping can be very difficult. In some cases, counseling can be helpful but first a person must acknowledge their problems. Most people are in fact too embarrassed to admit they are afraid of aging. Without positive attitude, their confidence level rapidly goes down and this is only the beginning. Unless the individual has a supporting environment, they will not adjust to their new stage of life. They will give up more easily and forget about the beneficial things like exercise and proper diet. No new inspiration will come up on their horizons simply because they will stop looking for it. Depression will slowly make its way into their lives and take over whatever was left of their confidence. At this point, only a determined individual could make a change, everyone also will need professional help. Getting back confidence can be quick but it can also take time depending on the person. At this point only positive attitude can make a difference. 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Everyone’s Opinion Free Essays

Opinion refers to someone’s point of view which cannot be proved to be true. Opinion also refers to judgments that are made by professionals regarding their belief. In law the word is used to refer to the various reasons that persuade judges to reach certain conclusions and make judgmental decisions. We will write a custom essay sample on Everyone’s Opinion or any similar topic only for you Order Now It is usually difficult to verify whether an opinion is true or false because there is no certainty about it and for this reason, opinions are not factual. (dictionary. reference. com). Everyone has his own opinion regarding various issues that affect everyday life, such as politics, the economy, social life, the world and unknown phenomena such as the existence of supernatural beings and life after death. Some of the opinions are based on cultural values, how an individual is socialized and how these factors affect the personal life of someone. Due to the diverse nature of opinions, some deserve respect from others while others do not deserve any attention mainly because they are baseless and hold no water. Some of the opinions that deserve to be respected include public opinion, opinion polls, and normative opinions. Idle opinions and personal baseless opinions do not necessarily merit respect but can sometimes be respected when they refer to important issues. Public opinion can be defined as the consensus of adult citizens pertaining to an issue or an agenda that touches their day to day lives. Opinion polls are usually conducted to get public opinion on important matters of the state that affect the economy, market trends and policies that determine governance. Such opinion polls deserve a lot of attention because they determine the kind of decisions that development stakeholders make in order to make progress economically and socially. Feedback from public opinion polls is a way of measuring the success or failure of the relevant institution. A good illustration is the opinion poll which was conducted in America on why nuclear energy should be supported. This poll was conducted on 2nd – 4th May 2003. The results showed that the majority of the citizens supported the usage of nuclear energy by two thirds. More than 70% agreed that nuclear energy licenses be renewed and more plants should be erected to increase energy supply. These numbers were even higher when the same poll was conducted in 2001 after some areas like California experienced power shortages. Such feedback offers the nuclear industry the necessary support from the general public to carry out its projects. Such kind of projects plays an important role in promoting development and boosting the economy. The opinion of the 30% who were against this development also cannot be ignored because their views could be of much benefit to the nuclear industry if considered as constructive criticism to improve the industry’s performance. Scontia: Why Americans Support Nuclear Energy: Development and Characteristics of Public Opinion in the U. S) Opinions that are not constructive in nature should not be given much attention because they are not beneficial. They are comprised of views that people don’t really believe in. Idle talk that happens during work or in the evening after work in blogs, and chatrooms quickly vanishes away. It is just that people want to engage in idle discussions. Idle opinion was first observed by Robert Webb when he went to the United Kingdom to feature some advertisement of Apple Mac He faced considerable criticism from people who should have been doing better things. These opinions were also not sought from them and they did not really believe in them (http://www. idleopinion. com/). The illustration above is a good example of opinions that should not be respected since they do not add any significant value to the matter at hand. Ignoring it is what is required and concentrating on work or matters of importance and general public interest should be the way forward. How to cite Everyone’s Opinion, Papers