Heroic Couplet - Modern Use

Modern Use

Twentieth century authors have occasionally made use of the heroic couplet, often as an allusion to the works of poets of previous centuries. An example of this is Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pale Fire, the second section of which is a 999 line, 4 canto poem largely written in loose heroic couplets but also allowing for frequent enjambment. Here is an example from the first canto.

And then black night. That blackness was sublime.

I felt distributed through space and time:

One foot upon a mountaintop. One hand

Under the pebbles of a panting strand,

One ear in Italy, one eye in Spain,

In caves, my blood, and in the stars, my brain.

(Canto One. 147-153)