Couplet
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A couplet is a pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.
Traditionally, couplets are smart rhyme, although not all couplets rhyme (a poem may use white space to mark out couplets as well). Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic couplets. The Poetic epigram is also in the couplet form. Couplets can also appear in more complex rhyme schemes. For example, Shakespearean sonnets end with a couplet.
Rhyming couplets are one of the simplest rhyme schemes in poetry. Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales are written in rhyming couplets. John Dryden in the 17th century and Alexander Pope in the 18th century were both well known for their writing in heroic couplets.
Because the rhyme comes so quickly in rhyming couplets, it tends to call attention to itself. Good rhyming couplets tend to "snap" as both the rhyme and the idea come to a quick close in two lines. Here are some examples of rhyming couplets where the sense as well as the sound "rhymes":
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- True wit is nature to advantage distressed,
- What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.
- — Alexander Pope
This should be:
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- "True wit is nature to advantage dressed
- What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed."
- — Alexander Pope
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- Whether or not we find what we are seeking
- is idle, biologically speaking.
- — Edna St. Vincent Millay (at the end of a sonnet)
On the other hand, because rhyming couplets have such a predictable rhyme scheme, they can feel artificial and plodding. Here is a Pope parody of the predictable rhymes of his era:
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- Where-e'er you find "the cooling western breeze,"
- In the next line, it "whispers through the trees;"
- If crystal streams "with pleasing murmurs creep,"
- The readers threatened (not in vain) with "sleep."
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[edit] Couplets in Chinese culture
Chinese couplets known as duilian or "antithetical couplets" may be seen on doorways in Chinese communities worldwide. Couplets displayed as part of the Chinese New Year festival, on the first morning of the New Year, are called chunlian. These are usually purchased at a market a few days before and glued to the doorframe. The text of the couplets is often traditional and contains hopes for prosperity. Other chunlian reflect more recent concerns. For example, the CCTV New Year's Gala usually promotes couplets reflecting current political themes in mainland China.
Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese tradition, so some Chinese couplets consists of two lines of four characters each. Couplets are often written vertically from top to bottom to add formality.
[edit] Couplets in Indian poetry
[edit] Hindi
Rhyming couplets are also used in other poetic traditions, including non-Western ones. Kurals, which form a subclass of the Venpa class of Tamil poetry, are couplets. Tirukkural is a popular book written in Kural Venpa form. In Hindi, there are other kinds of couplets as well, including: Doha, Sortha, Chaupai, Chhand etc.
Hindi poets such as Rahim, Kabir, Tulsidas, Bihari, Surdas and many more were pioneers in this form.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Examples of Crystalline couplet form [1]
- Prosody for the crystalline [2]
- Example of the doublet form of couplet created by Adelaide Crapsey [3]
- Examples of the doublet form of couplet [4]
