What is a Rhyming Couplet?

A rhyming couplet is two line of the same length that rhyme and complete one thought. There is no limit to the length of the lines. Rhyming words are words that sound the same when spoken, they don't necessarily have to be spelt the same.

Examples of rhyming couplets

The wind blew very strong
As we scurried along!

Plastic snake
Very fake.

In the morning the sun shone bright
Clearing the thoughts of the dark night.

It is common in Shakespearean sonnets.

O, how I faint when I of you do write, 
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, 
And in the praise thereof spends all his might, 
To make me tongue-tied, speaking of your fame! 

There lives more life in one of your fair eyes 
Than both your poets can in praise devise.

Rhyming couplets are used in poetry to help the poem become interesting. It is used to produce a form of rhyme throughout the whole poem either just on two lines or all the way through.

Why don't you try writing poem using rhyming couplets and enter it into one of our poetry competitions.

For information on poetry types other than shape poems visit our poetry glossary – poetry terms.