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Closed couplet

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that form a complete thought

Detailed Definition
A closed couplet is a pair of end-stopped, rhymed lines that form a complete syntactic and semantic unit, encapsulating a thought with balance and finality; it’s the hallmark of heroic couplets in Dryden or Pope, prized for epigrammatic precision and wit.
Example
Example in poetry:
Closed couplet: Pope’s “To err is human, to forgive divine”; Blake’s “The Tyger”: “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”; Modern closed couplet: “The app updates; my loneliness stays” (original)
Additional Notes
Couplet forming complete grammatical and logical unit. Often rhymed, self-contained. Contrast: enjambed couplet. Fundamental building block in heroic couplets and epigrams.
Also Known As
Heroic couplet Stopped couplet End-stopped verse pair Complete couplet end-stopped couplet End-stopped pair Hermetic couplet
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