Alexander Pope is a poet unsurpassed in skill, creativeness and wit. His expertise using what we may call the rimed couplet is beyond belief. His idol John Dryden also used this form, but Pope made it his own, and perfected it. No-one can dispute this fact.

Whether we call rimed couplets in iambic pentameter heroic couplets is a matter of definition. There has been a blurring of interpretations over the years. Heroic was at one time used to describe this form due to the translation of Greek epics by Dryden and Pope. It often referred to lofty themes such as G(g)od(s), kings, queens, religious quest and the like. The resulting poems were also lengthy, thus an epic or narrative. At one time, it was also considered that these should be closed couplet. Meaning that their sense did not extend beyond the two verses. So much for enjambment of couplets!

So—Back to Pope, and what the go is. Working with Pope, the aim is to analyze the metrical variation of certain verses, not to critique Pope’s work. Some may think that analysis and scansion of verses is of no real consequence. In some ways it is not. The fact is most poets would not be concerned with the scansion of their verses.

Regardless when reading verse such as this, we inevitably stumble reading a few here and there. Not because the poet has been careless, but because a slight various in rhythm is required.

Pope is the expert in this form, so it is a matter of determining what change has occurred and why. Thus we find why the verse will merrily skip along, and why Pope became the master of riming couplets.