Home › Glossary › Letter C

Couplet

Structure
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

A basic poetic unit of two consecutive lines, usually rhymed and metrically matched, functioning as a self-contained thought or image.

Explore this topic in depth (1)

Sonnet — The sonnet is one of poetry's most enduring forms: compact enough to concentrate thought, yet flexible enough for love, politics, faith, nature and grief. This guide explores its history, structures and variations, with particular attention to the volta—the turn that gives many sonnets their dramatic movement.

Detailed Definition
A couplet is a two-line stanza, often rhymed and metrically matched, serving as a complete thought unit; from heroic couplets (Pope) to free-verse pairs (Bishop), it offers closure, wit, or epigrammatic force through compact symmetry.
Example
Example in poetry:
Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate” exemplifies heroic couplet; Alexander Pope’s “True ease in writing comes from art, not chance / As those move easiest who have learned to dance” uses rhymed couplet for satire; Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul” uses slant-rhyme couplet; Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We die soon” closes “We Real Cool” with stark couplet; In Kay Ryan’s “Turtle,” “Her only levity / is patience” forms a philosophical couplet.
Additional Notes
Couplet is a pair of successive rhyming lines, often in iambic pentameter (heroic couplet); it provides closure, wit, or epigrammatic punch—central to Dryden, Pope, and Shakespearean sonnets.
Also Known As
Two-line unit distich rhyming pair verse pair bayat Paired poem Rhyming distich sher Two-line stanza Paired lines bayt Distique rann
Skip to main content