Couplet
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| - | '''Marcus Valerius Martialis''', known in [[English language|English]] as '''Martial''', was a [[Latin literature|Latin poet]] from [[Hispania]] (the [[Iberian Peninsula]]) best known for his twelve books of ''[[Epigram]]s'', known as ''[[The Epigrams]]'', published in [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] between AD [[86]] and [[103]], during the reigns of the [[Roman emperor|emperors]] [[Domitian]], [[Nerva]] and [[Trajan]]. In these short, witty poems he cheerfully [[satire|satirises]] city life and the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticises his provincial upbringing. He wrote a total of 1,561 - 1,235 of which are in [[elegiac]] [[couplets]]. He is considered the creator of the modern [[epigram]]. | ||
| - | ==Reception== | ||
| - | The works of Martial became highly valued on their discovery by the [[Renaissance]], whose writers often saw them as sharing an eye for the urban [[vice]]s of their own times. The poet's influence is seen in [[Juvenal]], late [[classical literature]], the [[Carolingian revival]], the [[Renaissance in France]] and [[Italian Renaissance|Italy]], the [[Siglo de Oro]], and [[early modern English]] and [[German poetry]], until with the growth of the [[romanticism|Romantic Movement]] he became [[unfashionable]]. | + | A '''couplet''' is a pair of lines of [[meter (poetry)|verse]]. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter. |
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| + | While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of [[iambic pentameter]] are called ''[[heroic couplet]]s''. The [[Poetic epigram]] is also in the couplet form. Couplets can also appear in more complex rhyme schemes. For example, [[Shakespearean]] [[sonnet]]s end with a couplet. | ||
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| + | Rhyming couplets are one of the simplest rhyme schemes in poetry. [[Chaucer]]'s [[The Canterbury Tales]] are written in rhyming couplets. [[John Dryden]] in the 17th century and [[Alexander Pope]] in the 18th century were both well known for their writing in heroic couplets. | ||
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| + | Because the rhyme comes so quickly in rhyming couplets, it tends to call attention to itself. Good rhyming couplets tend to "snap" 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": | ||
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| + | :: True wit is nature to advantage dress'd; | ||
| + | :: What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd. | ||
| + | :: — Alexander Pope | ||
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| + | :: Whether or not we find what we are seeking | ||
| + | :: is idle, biologically speaking. | ||
| + | :: — [[Edna St. Vincent Millay]] (at the end of a sonnet) | ||
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| + | 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 readers threatened (not in vain) with "sleep." | ||
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A couplet is a pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.
While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic couplets. The Poetic epigram is also in the couplet form. Couplets can also appear in more complex rhyme schemes. For example, Shakespearean sonnets end with a couplet.
Rhyming couplets are one of the simplest rhyme schemes in poetry. Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales are written in rhyming couplets. John Dryden in the 17th century and Alexander Pope in the 18th century were both well known for their writing in heroic couplets.
Because the rhyme comes so quickly in rhyming couplets, it tends to call attention to itself. Good rhyming couplets tend to "snap" 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 readers threatened (not in vain) with "sleep."
