Poetic form

What is a Couplet?

Definition

Two consecutive rhyming lines — poetry's smallest complete unit.

A couplet is two lines, usually rhymed, usually the same length — poetry's atom. Couplets close every Shakespearean sonnet (the snap of the lid), build entire epics in 'heroic couplets,' and live on in greeting cards, raps, and roasts.

The rhyme arrives so quickly that a couplet always sounds like a verdict. That's its gift and its danger: it can compress wisdom to a flash — or make a weak thought sound smug.

Structure of a couplet

Two consecutive lines, typically rhymed AA
Heroic couplet: two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter
Closed couplet: the thought completes within the two lines

How to write a couplet

Put the better rhyme word second; the punch lands on the close.
Make the second line answer, twist, or complete the first — not just continue it.
Chain couplets for longer poems, varying where sentences end to avoid sing-song.

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