On Friendship

“On Friendship” is a one-stanza lyric with eight lines that follow the form of iambic pentameter with rhyming couplets, known as the heroic couplet. This appears immediately in the first two lines: “Let amicitia in her ample reign / Extend her notes to a Celestial strain” (Lines 1-2, emphasis added). While the words “reign” and “strain” are spelled differently, they have the same vowel sound, “ay,” allowing them to fit into a precise rhyme scheme.

When looking at the pattern of paired syllables, five exist in each line, usually totaling 10 syllables per line for the pentameter form. Regarding the unstressed/stressed pairings that make up an iamb, these lines generally follow the form. Many of the rhyming couples are closed in this poem, but enjambment does appear, as at the end between “steer” and “The Footsteps” (Lines 7-8), with the speaker’s thought continuing from Line 7 to Line 8.

In using the heroic couplet, Phillis Wheatley employs one of the most prized literary forms of her time (See: Background). Adopting this form in her own verse reflects both her literary ambitions and reflects the grandeur of her lyrics’ subject matter, as she wishes to stress the divine and powerful nature of friendship throughout.