Poetry for Beginners - Lesson 2

Couplet
Greetings young poets and welcome to your second lesson. Today, we are going to talk about the couplet. First I am going to tell you something about what a couplet is and how to write it, then you will proceed with you assignments. Alright, let us start!

A Couplet is a Stanza of only two. Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a couplet and are a pair of lines that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a complete thought. William Shakespeare makes use of couplets in more complex rhyme schemes. Most couplets rhyme (aa), but they do not have to only rhyme by end rhyming. In this case, if not rhyming by the end, it must rhyme at least in assonant rhyme style. In a couplet, the words you use to rhyme must sound close enough. Rhyming couplets are one of the simplest rhyme schemes in poetry.

Note: Think of a couplet as a part of song lyrics. The lyrics don't always rhyme, but they sound close enough to be known as a rhyme.

Couplets are used by many cultures. One of them is the colourful Chinese culture. Chinese couplets known as duilian may be seen on doorways in Chinese communities worldwide. They are displayed on the first morning of the New Year. They are usually purchased at a market a few days before and glued to the doorframe. The text of the Chinese couplets is often traditional and contains hopes for prosperity. Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese tradition, so many Chinese couplets consists of two lines of four characters each. Couplets are often written vertically from top to bottom to add formality to their poetry.

There are also many variations of the couplet, based on line length and meter. Let us have a look at some.

 Short couplet – has iambic or trochaic tetrameter.

       Example:   Into my empty head there come
                         a cotton beach, a dock wherefrom

                               I set out, oily and nude
                               through mist in oily solitude.
                                                                 Maxine Kumin
Split couplet -  its first line is in iambic pentameter, the second in iambic dimeter.
           Example:          The weighty seas are rowled from the deeps
                                      In mighty heaps,
                                     And from the rocks' foundations do arise
                                     To kiss the skies.
                                                                    Richard Steere
 

Heroic couplet - two lines of iambic pentameter which are often the last two lines of the English sonnet.
            Example:          Such is my love, to thee I so belong,
                                        That for thy right myself will bear all wrong.
                                                                         William Shakespeare, Sonnet 88       
 Alexandrine Couplet – it is a line of iambic hexameter, so an alexandrine couplet is two rhymed lines of such. These often come at the end of stanzas or poems and, in these cases, are also called codas.

          Example:          A needless alexandrine ends the song

                                  that like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

                                  

                                     Alexander Pope

                                                           

Fun fact: Couplets are the most common rhyme scheme in 'old school' rap and are still very commonly used in today's hip-hip music and rapping.

How to write a couplet:

Now that you have found something more about couplets in general, let's go to the imaginative part of this lesson. Yes, that is right! Writing time! Open your minds and let your thoughts fly on the paper. Writing a couplet is very easy, because you do not need to follow any specific rules, only that it needs to rhyme.

1. First, like always, think about what you'll write in your couplet. It can be anything, from nature to disasters.

 2. Now that you have what you are going to write about, think of how to put it into two lines and make it rhyme.

 3. Polish it around the edges and voila! Your couplet is done.

 4. You can add more stanzas to your couplet, using steps 1-3.

Goodbye class and don't forget to take your assignment on the way out!

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