{{Short description|Class of poetic verse}} [[File:IliadScansion.png|thumb|upright=1.3|"Heroic verse": seems like it's describing the genre, but it's really describing the [[Metre (poetry)|meter]].]] '''Heroic verse''' is a term that may be used to designate [[epic poems]], but which is more usually used to describe the [[Metre (poetry)|meter]](s) in which those poems are most typically written (regardless of whether the content is "[[hero|heroic]]" or not). Because the meter typically used to narrate heroic deeds differs by language and even within language by period, the specific meaning of "heroic verse" is dependent upon context.

==Greek and Latin==

The oldest Greek verseform,{{sfn|Devine|Stephens|Brogan|Costas|1993|p=525}} and the Greek line for heroic verse, is the [[dactylic hexameter]], which was already well-established in the 9th and 8th centuries B.C.E. when the ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'' were composed in this meter.{{sfn|Gasparov|1996|p=71}}

The [[Saturnian (poetry)|Saturnian]] was used in Latin epics of the 3rd century B.C.E., but few examples remain and the meter is little understood.{{sfn|Cole|1993|p=1117}} Beginning at least with [[Ennius]] (239–169 B.C.E.) dactylic hexameter was introduced in imitation of the Greeks,{{sfn|Cole|1993|p=1117}} thereafter becoming the Latin heroic meter.{{sfn|Brogan|1993|p=524}}

The Greek/Roman dactylic hexameter exerted a huge influence over the subsequent poetic practice of much of Europe, whether by the new accentual verseforms it evolved into (as the medieval riming [[leonine verse]]), by attempts at reviving it either quantitatively or accentually (as by [[Leon Battista Alberti|Alberti]], [[Richard Stanihurst|Stanyhurst]], [[Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock|Klopstock]], [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Longfellow]], [[Robert Bridges|Bridges]], and many others), or simply as an ideal of what a nation's heroic verse should aspire to.{{sfn|Devine|Stephens|Brogan|Costas|1993|p=526-527}}

==English==

[[File:Beowulf Cotton MS Vitellius A XV f. 132r.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|The first page from the sole manuscript copy of ''[[Beowulf]]'']] [[Alliterative verse]] (as exemplified by ''[[Beowulf]]'') was the heroic verse of [[Old English]], as, in several closely related forms, it was for all [[Germanic languages]] more or less during the first millennium C.E.{{sfn|Lehmann|1956|p=23}}

{{Poem quote| Then that sorry soul {{pad|1em}} suffered awhile, most miserably, {{pad|1em}} he who in murk lingered. Alone he listened {{pad|1em}} to the delight each day, human happiness, {{pad|1em}} the hall loud with glee; sweet was the singing, {{pad|1em}} sound of harping.{{sfn|Lehmann|1988|p=24}} |source=''Beowulf: An Imitative Translation'', lines 86-90}}

The [[Alliterative Revival]] (mainly of the 14th century) likely constituted a continuation (though in evolved form) of the earlier tradition.{{sfn|Lehmann|1956|p=23-24}} However, around 1380{{sfn|Duffell|2008|p=82}} [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] developed the English [[iambic pentameter]], based chiefly on the Italian ''[[Hendecasyllable|endecasillabo]]''{{sfn|Duffell|2008|p=86-87}} and composed chiefly in [[couplet]]s or in [[rime royal]]. Although Chaucer's practice was largely preserved to the north by the Scottish Chaucerians ([[James I of Scotland]], [[Robert Henryson]], [[William Dunbar]] and [[Gavin Douglas]]{{sfn|Duffell|2008|p=108}}), in England itself changes in pronunciation or taste soon rendered Chaucer's technique extinct, and iambic pentameter disappeared for over 100 years.

The practice in these years has been characterized as incompetent ("bad shambling heroics"{{sfn|Hamer|1930|p=46}}), but alternatively as a distinct meter that embraces lines that qualify as well-formed iambic pentameter as well as others that don't. [[Jakob Schipper]] for example, laid out a 16-type pattern for "five-accent verse":{{sfn|Schipper|1910|pp=209-210}}

(×) / × / (×) | (×) / × / × / (×) where /=accented syllable; ×=unaccented syllable; (×)=optional; and |=[[caesura]]

which he then further multiplied by allowing that sometimes the caesura could appear elsewhere (most commonly after the third accent):{{sfn|Schipper|1910|pp=211-212}}

(×) / × / × / (×) | (×) / × / (×)

[[C. S. Lewis]] in fact denominated this verse the "fifteenth-century heroic" while both simplifying and broadening its metrical definition: a line with a sharp medial caesura, each resulting half-line having from 2 to 3 stresses, most hovering between 2 and 3.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|pp=45, 50}} Lewis exemplifies his conception of the "fifteenth-century heroic line" with this excerpt from ''[[The Assembly of Gods]]'':

{{Poem quote| His shéte from his bódy {{!}} dówn he let fáll, And ón a rèwde máner {{!}} he salútyd àll the róut, Wíth a bóld vòyse {{!}} cárpying wórdÿs stóut. Bút he spáke all hólow, {{!}} ás hit hád be óon Had spóke in anóther wórld {{!}} þát had wóo begóon.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|p=51}}{{efn|Lewis's accents are retained, but always placed on the syllable's initial vowel; his added line divisions are replaced with "{{!}}" and the ensuing capitals reduced.}} |source=Anonymous: ''Assembly of Gods'' lines 437-441}}

[[File:Wenceslas Hollar - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (State 2).jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey]], originator of English [[blank verse]]]] Iambic pentameter was re-developed by [[Thomas Wyatt (poet)|Wyatt]] and [[Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey|Surrey]] in the 1530s or 1540s. It was Surrey's line (modeled this time on the French ''[[Decasyllable|vers de dix]]''{{sfn|Duffell|2008|p=135}}) as finessed by [[Philip Sidney]] and [[Edmund Spenser]] that was re-embraced as English heroic verse. Using this line, Surrey also introduced [[blank verse]] into English,{{sfn|Padelford|1928|p=51}} previous instances being rimed.

{{Poem quote| A long exile thou art assigned to bere, Long to furrow large space of stormy seas; So shalt thou reach at last Hesperian land, Wher Lidian Tiber with his gentle streme Mildly doth flow along the frutfull felds.{{sfn|Padelford|1928|p=141}} |source=Surrey: ''Translations from the Æneid'' Book 2, lines 1035-1039}}

[[File:George Chapman.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[George Chapman]], translator of [[Homer]]]] The [[Fourteener (poetry)|fourteener]] vied with iambic pentameter as the English heroic verse{{sfn|Brogan|1993|p=524}} during the mid-16th-century, especially for translation from classical drama and narrative, notably: [[Jasper Heywood]]'s translations of [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] (1559-1561), [[Arthur Golding]]'s translation of [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' (1567), and [[George Chapman]]'s ''Iliad'' (1598-1611).{{sfn|Hardison|Brogan|1993|p=424}}

{{Poem quote| Achilles' banefull wrath resound, O Goddesse, that imposd Infinite sorrowes on the Greeks, and many brave soules losd From breasts Heroique—sent them farre, to that invisible cave That no light comforts; and their lims to dogs and vultures gave.{{sfn|Chapman|1956|p=23}} |source=Chapman: ''Iliad'' Book 1, lines 1-4}}

However, landmark works like ''[[Gorboduc (play)|Gorboduc]]'' (1561), portions of ''[[The Mirror for Magistrates]]'' (1559-1610), ''[[Tamburlaine]]'' (c. 1587), ''[[Astrophel and Stella]]'' (1580s, published 1591), and ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' (1590-1596), established the iambic pentameter—rimed for narrative and lyric and largely unrimed for drama—as the English heroic line.

[[File:Portrait of John Denham (poet). Wellcome L0005212.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[John Denham (poet)|John Denham]], influential writer of [[heroic couplet]]s]] The [[heroic couplet]] is a pair of iambic pentameter lines that rime together. Frequently, the term is associated with the balanced, closed couplets that dominated English verse from roughly 1640 to 1790,{{sfn|Steele|1999|p=319}}{{sfn|Piper|1993|p=522}} although the form dates back to Chaucer, and remains in use often in a looser form. [[John Denham (poet)|John Denham]] exemplifies, and describes (while addressing the [[River Thames]]), the neoclassical closed heroic couplet:

{{Poem quote| Oh, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull; Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full.{{sfn|Gilfillan|1857|p=221}} |source=[[John Denham (poet)|Denham]]: ''Cooper's Hill'' lines 189-192}}

The heroic [[quatrain]] (also "elegiac quatrain") is a stanza of iambic pentameter riming '''ABAB'''.{{sfn|Steele|1999|p=319}}

==French==

In France the ''[[Decasyllable|décasyllabe]]'' and [[French alexandrine|alexandrine]] have taken turns as the language's heroic verseform: first, the {{lang|fr|décasyllabe}} appearing in the 11th century; then, around 1200 the alexandrine began its first period of dominance; however, by 1400 the {{lang|fr|décasyllabe}} had again been established as the French heroic verse, completely ousting the alexandrine.{{sfn|Kastner|1903|pp=142-146}} The alexandrine, in a slightly stricter form, was resurrected in the middle of the 16th century by the poets of the [[Pléiade]],{{sfn|Gasparov|1996|p=130}} and has retained its status since then.

{{Verse translation|lang=fr| Nous partîmes cinq cents; {{!}} mais par un prompt renfort Nous nous vîmes trois mille {{!}} en arrivant au port, Tant, à nous voir marcher {{!}} avec un tel visage, Les plus épouvantés {{!}} reprenaient de courage!{{sfn|Corneille|1912|p=62}}{{efn|Caesura markings have been added to both French and English texts to clarify the line structure.}} |attr1=Corneille: ''Le Cid'' Act IV, scene 3, lines 1259-62| As five hundred we left, {{!}} but soon we gained support: To three thousand we grew {{!}} as we approached the port. Thus, seeing us all march {{!}} in league and with such favor, The fear melted away, {{!}} the throng becoming braver!}}

==Notes and references== ===Notes=== {{notelist}}

===References=== {{reflist|16em}}

==Sources== {{refbegin|30em}} * {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Heroic verse |author-last=Brogan |author-first=T.V.F. |pages=524–525 |editor1-last=Preminger |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Brogan |editor2-first=T.V.F. |editor3-last=Warnke |editor3-first=Frank J. |editor4-last=Hardison, Jr. |editor4-first=O. B. |editor5-last=Miner |editor5-first=Earl |display-editors=2 |date=1993 |encyclopedia=The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics |location=New York |publisher=MJF Books |url=https://archive.org/details/newprincetonency0000unse/page/524 |url-access=registration |isbn=1-56731-152-0 |oclc=961668903}} * {{cite book |last=Chapman |first=George |author-link=George Chapman |editor-last=Nicoll |editor-first=Allardyce |editor-link=Allardyce Nicoll |year=1956 |title=Chapman's Homer |volume=One: The Illiad |location=New York |publisher=Pantheon Books |series=Bolingen Series XLI |url=https://archive.org/details/chapmanshomerili01home |url-access=registration |oclc=888671582}} * {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Saturnian |author-last=Cole |author-first=A. Thomas |page=1117 |editor1-last=Preminger |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Brogan |editor2-first=T.V.F. |editor3-last=Warnke |editor3-first=Frank J. |editor4-last=Hardison, Jr. |editor4-first=O. B. |editor5-last=Miner |editor5-first=Earl |display-editors=2 |date=1993 |encyclopedia=The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics |location=New York |publisher=MJF Books |url=https://archive.org/details/newprincetonency0000unse/page/524 |url-access=registration |isbn=1-56731-152-0 |oclc=961668903}} * {{cite book |first=Pierre |last=Corneille |author-link=Pierre Corneille |editor-first=Colbert |editor-last=Searles |title=Le Cid |date=1912 |location=Boston |publisher=Ginn and Company |url=https://archive.org/details/lecidbost00cornuoft}} * {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Hexameter |author1-last=Devine |author1-first=Andrew M. |author2-last=Stephens |author2-first=Laurence D. |author3-last=Brogan |author3-first=T.V.F. |author4-last=Costas |author4-first=Procope S. |pages=525–526 |editor1-last=Preminger |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Brogan |editor2-first=T.V.F. |editor3-last=Warnke |editor3-first=Frank J. |editor4-last=Hardison, Jr. |editor4-first=O. 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S. |editor2-last=Holford-Strevens |editor2-first=L. |editor2-link=Leofranc Holford-Strevens |title=A History of European Versification |year=1996 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |url= https://archive.org/details/historyofeuropea00gasp |url-access=registration |isbn=0-19-815879-3 |oclc=1027190450}} * {{cite book |editor-last=Gilfillan |editor-first=George |editor-link=George Gilfillan |year=1857 |title=The Poetical Works Of Edmund Waller And Sir John Denham |location=Edinburgh |publisher=James Nichol |url=https://archive.org/details/poeticalworksofe00wall |oclc= 1079173537 }} * {{cite book |last=Hamer |first=Enid |year=1930 |title=The Metres of English Poetry |location=London |publisher=Methuen |url=https://archive.org/details/metresofenglishp0000hame |url-access=registration |oclc=655669997}} * {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Fourteener |author1-last=Hardison |author1-first=O.B. |author2-last=Brogan |author2-first=T.V.F. |pages=424–425 |editor1-last=Preminger |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Brogan |editor2-first=T.V.F. |editor3-last=Warnke |editor3-first=Frank J. |editor4-last=Hardison, Jr. |editor4-first=O. B. |editor5-last=Miner |editor5-first=Earl |display-editors=2 |date=1993 |encyclopedia=The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics |location=New York |publisher=MJF Books |url=https://archive.org/details/newprincetonency0000unse/page/424 |url-access=registration |isbn=1-56731-152-0 |oclc=961668903}} * {{cite book |last=Kastner |first=L. E. |title=A History of French Versification |location=Oxford |publisher=The Clarendon Press |date=1903 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoffrenchv00kastuoft |oclc=494022236}} * {{cite book |last=Lehmann |first=Ruth P.M. |year=1988 |title=Beowulf: An Imitative Translation |location=Austin |publisher=University of Texas Press |url=https://archive.org/details/lish00zedv|url-access=registration |isbn=0292707711 |oclc=246537832}} * {{cite book |last=Lehmann |first=Winfred P. |authorlink=Winfred P. Lehmann |year=1956 |title=The Development of Germanic Verse Form |location=Austin |publisher=University of Texas Press |oclc=1069932004}} * {{cite book |last=Lewis |first=C.S. |authorlink=C. S. Lewis |year=1969 |orig-date=1939 |chapter=The Fifteenth-Century Heroic Line |title=Selected Literary Essays |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=45–57 |url= https://archive.org/details/selectedliterary0000lewi_c2q2 |url-access=registration |oclc=623321600}} * {{cite book |editor-last=Padelford |editor-first=Frederick Morgan |editor-link=Frederick Morgan Padelford |title=The Poems of Henry Howard Earl of Surrey |edition=Revised |location=Seattle |publisher=University of Washington Press |date=1928 |url=https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryhowa1928surr/page/141 |oclc=474929877}} * {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Fourteener |author-last=Piper |author-first=William Bowman |pages=522–524 |editor1-last=Preminger |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Brogan |editor2-first=T.V.F. |editor3-last=Warnke |editor3-first=Frank J. |editor4-last=Hardison, Jr. |editor4-first=O. B. |editor5-last=Miner |editor5-first=Earl |display-editors=2 |date=1993 |encyclopedia=The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics |location=New York |publisher=MJF Books |url=https://archive.org/details/newprincetonency0000unse/page/424 |url-access=registration |isbn=1-56731-152-0 |oclc=961668903}} * {{cite book |last=Schipper |first=Jakob |authorlink=Jakob Schipper |year=1910 |title=A History of English Versification |location=Oxford |publisher=The Clarendon Press |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00schiuoft |oclc=1031802469}} * {{cite book |last=Steele |first=Timothy |authorlink=Timothy Steele |year=1999 |title=All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing |location=Athens, OH |publisher=Ohio University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/allfunsinhowyous0000stee |url-access=registration |isbn=0-8214-1260-4 |oclc=490391272}} {{refend}}

== Further reading == * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Heroic Verse |volume= 13 |last= Gosse |first= Edmund William |author-link= Edmund William Gosse| pages = 385–386 |short = 1}}

[[Category:Types of verses]] [[Category:History of poetry]]