Heroic epics contain heroic couplets, which consist of rhymed pairs of iambic pentameter. Pope uses this rhymed form to often juxtapose serious ideas with trivial ones. A great example of this is when the sprite Ariel worries about Belinda while she is at the party, “Whether the nymph shall break Diana’s law, / Or some frail china jar receive a flaw.” (Lines 105-106, Canto 2) These comparisons and contrasts can go from mildly trivial to absolutely brutal, “…tyrants fierce that unrepenting die, / …Cynthia when her manteau’s pinned awry.” (Lines 7-8, Canto 4) Pope is comparing the death of a tyrant to a woman’s pesky scarf that won’t stay
Heroic epics contain heroic couplets, which consist of rhymed pairs of iambic pentameter. Pope uses this rhymed form to often juxtapose serious ideas with trivial ones. A great example of this is when the sprite Ariel worries about Belinda while she is at the party, “Whether the nymph shall break Diana’s law, / Or some frail china jar receive a flaw.” (Lines 105-106, Canto 2) These comparisons and contrasts can go from mildly trivial to absolutely brutal, “…tyrants fierce that unrepenting die, / …Cynthia when her manteau’s pinned awry.” (Lines 7-8, Canto 4) Pope is comparing the death of a tyrant to a woman’s pesky scarf that won’t stay