couplet

Everyday

1. A couplet is a pair of lines of poetry that go together, usually rhyming and with the same rhythm. tree →
2. (rare) A couplet can mean a pair of anything. tree →

In the lessons

In English lessons pupils write and spot couplets in poems and songs. A rhyming couplet often ends a poem or a sonnet with a strong, neat point. It tells the reader where two lines form one small unit. Phrases: «rhyming couplet», «a closing couplet», «heroic couplet» (lines of ten syllables).

Examples

• «Twinkle, twinkle, little star, / How I wonder what you are» is a couplet. tree →
• Write a rhyming couplet about your pet. tree →
• The poem is made of six couplets. tree →
• A sonnet by Shakespeare ends with a couplet. tree →
• The last couplet made everyone laugh. tree →
• Can you find the couplet that does not rhyme? tree →
• My birthday card had a funny couplet inside. tree →

Note

Countable: a couplet, couplets. A couplet = 2 lines; a tercet = 3; a quatrain = 4; a stanza or verse is a group of lines. Pronounced «CUP-let». Do not confuse with «couple» (two people or two things) — a couplet is about lines of poetry.