Alexander Pope's Heroic Couplets

 

Open with p. 521 Quotable Wisdom

 

Elements of Literature: Antithesis

Break down the word: anti-, as in anti-anxiety medication + thesis, as in thesis statement = antithesis, a contrast of ideas expressed in a grammatically correct statement.

Who said it?  *Bonus points*

“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

 

Turn to p. 522-523 Heroic Couplets

Review Iambic Pentameter.  Ask volunteer to read couplet 3 aloud, slowly. 

u / u / u / u / u /

 

Call off numbers 1-10.  Students read the couplet of that number to themselves.  Interpret meaning in 1-2 sentences on paper.

 

When students are ready, ask for #1 to read couplet/ triplet aloud and give interpretation.

Ask whether the student sees antithesis in that couplet.

Ask class for an example of how the truth contained in the couplet might apply to modern-day life.

Make connections using personal notes

 

If time, turn back to p. 520 and read about Alexander Pope’s life.

Notes on Heroic Couplets by Alexander Pope

 

1. Comparison: music and poetry as inexplicable beauty

Antithesis: no methods, but master hand alone

Example: listening to an amateur violinist practicing vs. a skilled violinist performing

 

2. Antithesis: drink deep, or taste not

Metaphor: learning like drinking

Example: dentist who doesn’t know what he’s doing goes to pull out your teeth

 

3. Antithesis: neither first for new, nor last for old

Example: computers, Palm Pilots, cell phones

 

4. Antithesis: art, but not chance

Comparison: writing like dancing

 

5. Antithesis: early praise, not late praise

 

6. Parallel structure

Proverbial saying

 

7. Proverbial saying

 

8. Proverbial saying

Metaphor: growth of mind like growth of tree

Example: My parents read me classic children’s literature from the time I was four years old.  Here I am, teaching literature.

 

9. Inverted grammar: But when mortals bend their will to mischief . . .

Example: idea of killing leads to shootings, knifings

 

10. Antithesis: fight, but not uncontrolled

Metaphor: language like a weapon

 

(c) 2005 Sharon Rose Enterline