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Poetry & prosody

Couplet

A pair of verse lines forming a unit, often rhymed but not necessarily so.

A couplet consists of two lines treated as a unit. Rhyme, syntax or meaning may bind them together. Some traditions prescribe a particular metrical relationship between the lines.

A couplet can stand alone, form a stanza or conclude a longer poem. Its brevity allows an image and a response to be held closely together, whether the lines rhyme or not.

Example

The platform holds the rain of the last train. Your letter waits unopened in my hand.

In the workshop

Let the second line answer the first without merely restating it.

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