poetry terms

A Glossary of Poetry Terms

HENDIADYS (hen-DYE-a-dis): The use of a pair of independent words joined by and, where one of the words achieves the effect of a modifier, to express a single expanded idea, as nice and warm (nicely warm) or Tennyson’s:

waving to him white hands and courtesy (courteous white hands)

Shakespeare’s works contain many examples of hendiadys, such as “sound and fury” (furious sound) in Macbeth, and “heat and flame” (hot flame) in Hamlet.

This is an example of a Heroic Couplet in Iambic Pentameter:

You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come.
Knock as you please–there’s nobody at home.