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{{Short description|Pair of successive lines of metre in poetry}}{{other uses}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2014}}

In poetry, a '''couplet''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ʌ|p|l|ə|t}} {{respell|CUP|lət}}) or '''distich''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɪ|s|t|ɪ|k}} {{respell|DISS|tick}}) is a pair of successive [[Line (poetry)|lines]] that [[rhyme]] and have the same [[Metre (poetry)|metre]]. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open).  In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there is a grammatical pause at the end of a line of [[Verse (poetry)|verse]]. In a run-on (open) couplet, the meaning of the first line continues to the second.<ref>"couplet." [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013</ref>

==Background==
The word "couplet" comes from the French word meaning "two pieces of iron riveted or hinged together". The term "couplet" was first used to describe successive lines of verse in Sir P. Sidney's ''Arcadia ''in 1590: "In singing some short coplets, whereto the one halfe beginning, the other halfe should answere."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oed.com/;jsessionid=21C3D384C49DB50A2116A667211BE681?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F43139%3Frskey%3DnmXq3u%26result%3D47784|title=Home : Oxford English Dictionary|website=oed.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514183041/http://www.oed.com/;jsessionid=21C3D384C49DB50A2116A667211BE681?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F43139%3Frskey%3DnmXq3u%26result%3D47784|archive-date=2018-05-14}}</ref>

While couplets traditionally rhyme, not all do. Poems may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets in [[iambic pentameter]] are called ''[[heroic couplet]]s''. [[John Dryden]] in the 17th century and [[Alexander Pope]] in the 18th century were both well known for their writing in heroic couplets.  The [[Poetic epigram]] is also in the couplet form. Couplets can also appear as part of more complex [[rhyme scheme]]s, such as [[sonnet]]s.

Rhyming couplets are one of the simplest rhyme schemes in poetry.  Because the rhyme comes so quickly, it tends to call attention to itself. Good rhyming couplets tend to "explode" 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":

:: True wit is nature to advantage dress'd;
:: What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd.
:: — Alexander Pope

:: 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:
:: 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 reader's threatened (not in vain) with "sleep."

==In English poetry==
Regular rhyme was not originally a feature of English poetry: [[Old English]] verse came in metrically paired units somewhat analogous to couplets, but constructed according to [[alliterative verse]] principles. The rhyming couplet entered English verse in the early [[Middle English]] period through the imitation of [[medieval Latin]] and [[Old French]] models.<ref>Max Kaluza, ''A Short History of English Versification'', translated by A. C. Dunstan (London: Allen, 1911), pp. 144–56.</ref> The earliest surviving examples are a metrical paraphrase of the [[Lord's Prayer]] in short-line couplets, and the ''[[Poema Morale]]'' in septenary (or "heptameter") couplets, both dating from the twelfth century.<ref>T. L. Kington-Oliphant, ''The Sources of Standard English'' (London: Macmillan, 1873), p. [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:The_Sources_of_Standard_English.djvu/106 77].</ref>

Rhyming couplets were often used in Middle English and [[Early Modern English|early modern English]] poetry. [[Chaucer]]'s ''[[The Canterbury Tales|Canterbury Tales]]'', for instance, is predominantly written in rhyming couplets, and Chaucer also incorporated a concluding couplet into his [[rhyme royal]] stanza. Similarly, [[Shakespearean]] [[sonnet]]s often employ rhyming couplets at the end to emphasize the theme. Take one of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets, [[Sonnet 18]], for example (the rhyming couplet is shown in italics):

:: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
:: Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
:: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
:: And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
:: Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
:: And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
:: And every fair from fair sometime declines,
:: By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
:: But thy eternal summer shall not fade
:: Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
:: Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
:: When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
:: ''So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,''
:: ''So long lives this and this gives life to thee.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18.html|title=Shakespeare Sonnet 18 – Shall I compare thee to a summer's day|first=Amanda|last=Mabillard|website=shakespeare-online.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112213943/http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18.html|archive-date=2013-11-12}}</ref>

In the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth-century English rhyming couplets achieved the zenith of their prestige in English verse, in the popularity of [[Heroic couplet|heroic couplets]]. The heroic couplet was used by famous poets for ambitious translations of revered Classical texts, for instance, in [[John Dryden]]'s translation of the ''[[Aeneid]]'' and in [[Alexander Pope]]'s translation of the ''[[Iliad]]''.<ref>Max Kaluza, ''A Short History of English Versification'', translated by A. C. Dunstan (London: Allen, 1911), pp. 288–96.</ref>

Though poets still sometimes write in couplets, the form fell somewhat from favour in English in the twentieth century; contemporary poets writing in English sometimes prefer unrhymed couplets, distinguished by layout rather than by matching sounds.<ref>J. A. Cuddon, ''The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory'', 4th edition, revised by C. E. Preston (London: Penguin, 1999), p. 186.</ref>

==In Chinese poetry==
[[File:Chinese Marks Door.JPG|thumb|A chunlian on doorway]]
Couplets called [[Duilian (poetry)|duilian]] may be seen on doorways in Chinese communities worldwide. Duilian displayed as part of the [[Chinese New Year]] festival, on the first morning of the New Year, are called [[chunlian]] (春聯; 春联). 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]].

Some duilian may consist of two lines of four [[Chinese character|characters]] each.  Duilian are read from top to bottom where the first line starts from the right.

==In Tamil poetry==
[[File:Kural in Chennai Metro Train.jpg|thumb|A [[Tirukkural|Kural]] couplet on display inside a [[Chennai Metro]] train]]
[[Tamil literature]] contains some of the notable examples of ancient couplet poetry. The [[Tamil language]] has a rich and refined grammar for couplet poetry, and distichs in Tamil poetry follow the [[venpa]] metre.<ref name="Zvelebil1973">{{cite book|author=Kamil Zvelebil|title=The smile of Murugan: On Tamil literature of South India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VF2VMUoY_okC&pg=PA156|access-date=11 December 2010|year=1973|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-03591-1|pages=156–171}}</ref> One of the most notable examples of Tamil couplet poetry is the ancient Tamil moral text of the [[Tirukkural]], which contains a total of 1330 couplets written in the [[kural (poetic form)|kural venpa]] metre from which the title of the work was derived centuries later. Each Kural couplet is made of exactly 7 words—4 in the first line and 3 in the second.<ref name="GUPope_SacredKurral">{{cite book
 | last = Pope 
 | first = G. U. 
 | title = The Sacred Kurral of Tiruvalluva Nayanar 
 | url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.43871
 | publisher = Asian Educational Services
 | date = 1886
 | location = New Delhi
 }}</ref> The first word may rhyme with the fourth or the fifth word. Below is an example of a couplet:

:{{lang|ta|இலன்என்று தீயவை செய்யற்க செய்யின்}}
:{{lang|ta|இலனாகும் மற்றும் பெயர்த்து}}. ([[Tirukkural]], verse 205)

::''Transliteration'': Ilan endru theeyavai seyyarkka seyyin
::Ilanaagum matrum peyartthu

::''Translation'': Make not thy poverty a plea for ill;
::Thine evil deeds will make thee poorer still. ([[George Uglow Pope|Pope]], 1886)<ref name="GUPope_SacredKurral"/>

==In Hindustani poetry==
{{Main|1 = Doha (poetry)|2 = Doha (Indian literature)|3 = Bayt (poetry)|4 = Urdu poetry|5 = Urdu ghazal}}

In [[Hindi]], a couplet is called a ''[[Doha (poetry)|doha]]'', while in [[Urdu]], it is called a ''[[Urdu poetry|sher]]''.

Couplets were the most common form of poetry between the 12th and 18th Centuries, in Hidustani. Famous poets include [[Kabir]], [[Tulsidas]] and [[Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan|Rahim Khan-i-Khanan]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian literature:devraj to jyoti|author=Amresh Datta|year=1988|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|page=1057|isbn=9788126011940|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&q=Doha+%28Indian+Literature%29&pg=PA1057}}</ref>

Kabir (also known as Kabirdas) is thought to be one of the greatest composers of Hindustani couplets.

==Distich==
The American poet [[J. V. Cunningham]] was noted for many distichs included in the various forms of [[epigram]]s included in his poetry collections, as exampled here:

Deep summer, and time passes. Sorrow wastes<br>To a new sorrow. While Time heals time hastes<ref>Barber, David 'A Brief for Epigrams' Parnassus Poetry Aug 19 2011</ref>

==See also==
{{div col}}
* [[Antithetical couplet]]
* [[Biblical poetry]]
* [[Chastushka]]
* [[Closed couplet]]
* [[Coupletist]]
* [[Elegiac couplet]]
* [[Kabirdas]]
* [[Monostich]]
* [[Parallelism (rhetoric)|Parallelism]]
* [[Tristich]]
{{end div col}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikisource}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Couplet |volume= 7 |last= Gosse |first= Edmund William |author-link= Edmund William Gosse| page = 318 |short = 1}}

{{Poetic forms}}

[[Category:Poetic forms]]
[[Category:Poetic rhythm]]
[[Category:2 (number)]]