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Final couplet

Structure
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

A concluding pair of rhymed lines, often used to summarize or resolve a poem

Detailed Definition
A final couplet is the concluding two lines of a poem—often rhymed and metrically distinct—that deliver resolution, irony, or thematic summation; in sonnets, it frequently contains the volta or punchline, while in narrative verse it may offer moral commentary or emotional closure.
Example
Example in poetry:
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 ends with: “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare”; Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Criticism” closes couplets with moral maxims; John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 10” concludes: “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die”; Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” ends with the couplet: “Since then—’tis Centuries—and yet / Feels shorter than the Day.”
Additional Notes
A final couplet concludes a poem with two rhyming lines; often delivers a twist, summary, or epigrammatic insight—common in sonnets and heroic verse.
Also Known As
Closing couplet terminal rhyme concluding pair epigrammatic duo Closing doublet Culminating couplet Final doublet
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