Pope’s couplets seem to be monotonous only to a careless reader, but careful examination reveals the immense variety and rapidity of movement that he has imparted to his couplets will great skill.
Variety is introduced, (i) by varying the depth of the caesura. Sometimes, the pause is so shallow or slight that there seems to be no pause at all, and at other times it is quite weighty and deep, (ii) variety is introduced by accent variation. Normally, there should be only five accents, but in Pope’s lines there are sometimes four and sometimes six and that is why Pope has remained inimitable up to this day. He has left the stamp of his genius on the heroic couplet, (iii) variety movement are introduced by the skilful manipulation of liquid consonant and alliteration.