Rhyming Couplets Meaning
Janeth Counter
In poetry, a couplet is a pair of lines in a verse. Typically, they rhyme and have the same meter or rhythm. They make up a unit or complete thought. Expand your poetic mind through a definition of rhyming couplets and rhyming couplet examples.
Before you dive right into rhyming couplet examples, you need to have a solid definition of what a rhyming couplet is. To understand what a rhyming couplet is, you just have to look at the phrase: rhyming couplet.
You'll notice that the two lines of poetry are similar in length. Both have six syllables and the words tense and sense rhyme. Well, that is a rhyming couplet at play. Explore this poetic device more through several rhyming couplet examples.
Rhyming couplets don't just stand alone. They can be part of large famous works like those from literary wordsmiths such as Pope and Dryden. Explore a few classic couplet examples created by poetry masters.
One of the greatest wordsmiths of all time, William Shakespeare, who's actually credited with creating English words, also liked to add a couplet or two to his writing. Explore some of the great couplets found in Shakespeare's famous plays and poems.
Now you can see how rhyming couplets work. Thanks to their short and succinct form, they are a good way to produce a startling or dramatic effect in a poem or provide a sense of completion to the piece. For more on the use of couplets, see famous couplet examples.
In poetry, a couplet or distich is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same 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. In a run-on (open) couplet, the meaning of the first line continues to the second.[1]
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."[2]
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 couplets. 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 schemes, such as sonnets.
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":
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.[3] 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.[4]
Rhyming couplets were often used in Middle English and early modern English poetry. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, for instance, is predominantly written in rhyming couplets, and Chaucer also incorporated a concluding couplet into his rhyme royal stanza. Similarly, Shakespearean sonnets 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):
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 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.[6]
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.[7]
Couplets called 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.
[1] An accomplished French jeweler and collector, Henri Vever amassed a large collection of fine art. His collections of Japanese prints and Islamic manuscripts were widely respected, as Vever acquired pieces of exceptional quality and rarity. Intensely studying the visual aspects of Islamic art, loaning to exhibitions, and publishing on Islamic art, Vever quickly became one of the leading experts on Islamic painting and manuscripts. This work was in Vever's collection at the time of his death in 1942.
It is unclear when and from whom Vever acquired this manuscript. Vever had this object by 1931, when it was published in Ren Grousset, "The Civilizations of the East" [book], trans. by Catherine Alison Phillips, vol. 1 (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1931), 273 and loaned to the London exhibition. This work was in Vever's collection at the time of his death in 1942.
[2] Upon Henri Vever's death on September 25, 1942, his wife, Jeanne Louise Monthiers inherited the work. See exhibits F and G of Agreement of Purchase and Sale of the Henri Vever Collection, January 9, 1986, copy in object file.
[3] Upon the death of Jeanne Louise Monthiers, as stipulated in the will of Henri Vever, the family's assets were divided evenly between his two grandchildren. His only grandson, Francois Mautin inherited the collection known as "The Henri Vever Collection of Oriental Art and Manuscripts Including Persian and Indian Art and Manuscripts." This object is part of that collection. See exhibits F and G as cited in note 2.
Manuscript; The fifth daftar (book) of Mathnavi by Rumi; Persian in black and red nasta'liq script; 44 folios with 1double-page frontispiece (fols. 1 verso- 2 recto) and 1 sarlawh (folio 2 verso), a dated colophon (folio 44 recto); inscriptions (fols. flyleaf, 1 recto, fol. 44 recto/ verso); seals (fols1 recto, and 44 recto/verso); standard page: 4 columns, 19 lines of text.
Binding: The manuscript is bound in contemporary leather over paper pasteboards with gold block-stamped designs on the exterior covers and doublures of leather filigree over a multicolored paper ground punctuated with inlaid pieces of mica. The envelop flap has a surface and border identical to that on the upper and lower covers.
Flyleaf: "fifth book of the Mathnawi."
Folio 1 recto: (in red ink): " he who in the presence of his lordship."
Folio 1 verso (on pishtaq architecture): "your residence is the qibla of the pure. The arch of your portico is the niche for prayer. "
Fol. 44recto: "written by the poor sinful slave, in need of forgiveness of the One, Sultan-Ali b. Muhammad al-Mashhadi. May God forgive the sins and faults of him and his father. In the months of the year [A.H.] eight hundred and sixty-three [A.D. 1458-59]."
Fol. 44 recto (in the margins): " in the year one thousand three hundred . . . and one of the hegira, the honored 22nd of Sha'ban, one thousand three hundred and twenty [A.D. November 24, 1902] [signature]."
Folio 44 recto: "this description is written today as I am sitting in the Dar al-Khilafa of Tehran, today is the third of [Bahman] and also the auspicious 'id of Ghadir Khum, sitting in the presence of a number of noble men and speaking of [?] In short that the mighty God may he keep alive [?] Emam Shams [?] al-din Amir al-Mu'menin mazhar al-'aja'ib va mazhar [?]..."
The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) is composed of twenty-seven thousand couplets in six books. Devoted to the "intrinsic meaning of all things," the Mathnawi is an encyclopedic work of Sufi philosophy and ethics.
The double-page painting A Prince Enthroned was added to the manuscript at the Safavid court of Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524-76) around 1530. The brilliant colors, highly controlled lines, and subtle characterizations of the image are typical of Safavid work during the second quater of the sixteenth century. Although the painting does not appear to depict a specific scene from the Mathnawi, both the portrayal of an enthroned prince and the various pastimes shown before him are in keeping with the manuscript's many analogies between royal activities and the quest for mystical enlightenment.
The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery welcome information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.
Who are the experts?
Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team.