> My question is this: when did critics and poets start using the term > "heroic couplet"? The online OED, which lets you search quotations, does > not have an example of this phrase until 1857! As early as 1693, Dryden is > using the phrase "heroic verse," but this is still very late, and he > doesn't write as if the term were a new one. > It wasn't: see Plato, _Laws_ 12. 958 E: and not to make gravestones larger than will accomodate praises of the deceased's life not exceeding four heroic verses (tettarwn hrwikiwn stichwn).
Leofranc Holford-Strevebs ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
