What is a heroic couplet and why did Alexander Pope use it so often?

A heroic couplet is a pair of rhyming lines written in iambic pentameter. This form often functions as a distinct rhetorical and metrical unit within a poem.12

Alexander Pope utilized the heroic couplet extensively because he mastered the form with exceptional skill, allowing him to adapt it to a wide variety of purposes. His command of this metre enabled him to handle diverse themes and tones, ranging from the witty, epigrammatic summaries found in An Essay on Criticism to the pathos of his elegies and the mock-heroic style of The Rape of the Lock.34

Pope found the couplet highly effective for balancing seemingly incompatible responses—such as love and hate or ridicule and admiration—within his satires. By perfecting the rhythm and diction of the form, he could transition seamlessly between spirited, conversational dialogue and elevated, noble declamation, making it the ideal vehicle for his energetic and fastidious literary style.34