Couplet (Literary Terms Related to Poetry)

Couplet

A couplet is a unit of two lines of poetry that typically share the same or similar meter and rhyme, or are separated from other lines by a double line break. They can be open or closed, meaning each line may form a complete sentence, or the sentence may continue from one line to the next. The term "couplet" comes from the French word meaning "two pieces of iron riveted or hinged together," first used in Sidney's Arcadia in 1590.

Couplets can rhyme, but they do not have to. White space may be used to mark unrhymed couplets. Heroic couplets, written in iambic pentameter, were popularized by poets like John Dryden and Alexander Pope. Rhyming couplets create a quick, noticeable rhyme that calls attention to itself, effectively delivering both a rhyme and a complete idea within two lines. For example, Alexander Pope wrote:

"True wit is nature to advantage dress'd;

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd."

While the couplet form was prevalent in Middle and early modern English poetry, like in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare's sonnets, it reached its peak in the late 17th and early 18th centuries with

heroic couplets. Though it fell somewhat out of favour in the 20th century, contemporary poets sometimes use unrhymed couplets distinguished by layout rather than rhyme.

Identifying couplets within longer stanzas typically relies on meter and rhyme scheme.

Example:

"So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

(Shakespeare, Sonnet 18)