Read the excerpt from An Essay on Man.Know, then, thyself, presume not God to scan;The proper study of mankind is man.

The two lines form a heroic couplet: a pair of rhyming lines written in iambic pentameter. They also express a complete thought: people should study human nature rather than presume to understand God. The couplet’s balanced form supports this direct, finished idea, rather than creating tension or suggesting loose structure.

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