couplet
/'kʌplit/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: 1. A pair of successive lines of verse, typically rhyming and of the same meter: A couplet is a fundamental unit of verse, consisting of two lines that usually form a complete thought or idea. It is a common feature in many poetic traditions. 2. A pair of two similar or identical things: In a broader, often literary sense, a couplet can refer to any two items of the same kind considered together as a unit.
Usage Examples
- Noun (Poetry):
- The poem concludes with a powerful rhyming couplet.
- Shakespearean sonnets often end with a summarizing couplet.
- She wrote a humorous couplet about the rainy weather.
- Noun (General Pair):
- The museum displayed a couplet of ancient vases from the same period. (This usage is less common and more formal/literary).
Advanced Usage
- Heroic Couplet: A specific type of couplet written in iambic pentameter (a line with five metrical feet). It was famously used by poets like Alexander Pope and Geoffrey Chaucer.
- Pope's "An Essay on Man" is written primarily in heroic couplets.
- Closed Couplet: A couplet that forms a complete grammatical unit and a full thought, often marked by a period or semicolon at the end of the second line.
- The closed couplet gives the epigram its sharp, memorable quality.
Variants and Related Words
- Couple (noun/verb): While "couple" generally means two people or things linked together, "couplet" is specifically a poetic term. "Couple" is not used to describe lines of poetry.
- Distich: A technical synonym for a couplet, especially one forming a complete unit.
Synonyms
- Pair (for the general sense of two items).
- Duo.
- Twosome.
- Distich (for the poetic sense).
Idioms and Fixed Phrases
- Rhyming Couplet: This is the standard and most common form. The phrase emphasizes the typical rhyming feature.
- The nursery rhyme is composed of simple rhyming couplets.
Noun
- a stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse; usually rhymed
- two items of the same kind