Reading a Heroic Couplet Passage

The idea

The heroic couplet is the period's signature form, and a passage in it repays a method. First, read in pairs: each couplet of rhyming iambic pentameter usually completes a thought, so find where the sense closes. Second, find the caesura, the pause within a line, often marked by a comma or semicolon, which splits it into balanced halves. Third, look for antithesis and parallelism across the halves: "To err is human; to forgive, divine" sets two clauses against each other, and the meaning lies in the contrast. Fourth, notice what the rhyme joins, because Pope often pairs a serious word with a trivial one to satirize, as when the epic language of The Rape of the Lock describes a card game. Fifth, weigh the tone: a balanced, calm surface may carry sharp mockery. Then state what the couplet argues and what its balance contributes to that argument.