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couplet

couplet

4 5.9
Two lines of poetry next to each other that usually rhyme
  • noun
  • /ˈkʌplɪt/
  • Literature
translation icon : dístico
  • Such a reading was supported by the familiar couplet from Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale":
  • heroic couplets
  • rhymed couplets
  • final couplet

It makes it more like a a couplet in poetry.

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Examples

  • Many classic poems feature a couplet at the end of each stanza to emphasize the theme.

  • For the poet, the heroic couplet is a wickedly difficult frame in which to narrate.

    Academic text (2012)
  • In this couplet, Pope does more than simply argue that poets are not born but instead are made.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Following is an example of a couplet from the chirigota "Miss Dead."

    Academic text (1998)
  • The first song that accompanies this movement is a couplet repeated many times:

    Academic text (1998)
  • Take one of the smallest and apparently most elementary of the standard poetic forms, the couplet.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Charles Lamb once wrote a humorous couplet: For thy sake, Tobacco, I would do anything but die.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Teach ballads, narrative poems, couplets, and free verse.

    Academic text (2015)
  • As in the first couplet but a little more overtly, an ironic knowingness permeates this second couplet.

    Academic text (2003)
  • And of course, finally, Moulsworth ends her poem in the fifty-fifth couplet, signifying her fifty-five years of age.

    Fiction book (1996)

Synonyms

heroic couplet
vscouplet
  • Literature
8.8

Two rhymed lines with five beats each, often used in formal English poems

is the general pair of rhymed lines not limited to that meter or tone
closed couplet
vscouplet
  • Literature
7.9

Two lines of poetry that rhyme and give a complete thought

is the general pair form that may not form a complete thought

Compounds

closed couplet
  • Literature
7.9

Two lines of poetry that rhyme and give a complete thought

heroic couplet
  • Literature
8.8

Two rhymed lines with five beats each, often used in formal English poems

How Many

quatrain
  • Literature
2 7.4
tercet
  • Literature
8.6
couplet
  • Literature
4 5.9
line of verse
  • Literature
1 4.0

Surface Forms

couplet singular
couplets plural

Morphology

couplet = couple (semi-transparent) = couple + et

While built from 'couple' + '-et', the specialized poetic meaning 'two successive lines of verse' is a domain-specific extension of 'pair'.

Etymology

The word couplet comes from French couple with the small ending -et, and it literally means 'little pair', so in poetry it became a 'pair' of lines that belong together and often rhyme.