Writing Wednesday: Poetry Part 2

 

Writing Wednesday: Poetry Part 2

Continuing with the theme of poetry, this Wednesday is focusing on the couplet.

From the elementary perspective, poems are lines that rhyme, typically in an AB pattern. However, two lines are so simple to rhyme because you can just get it over with right away. 

Is today the day

To come over to play?

(You can get a child rhyming every sentence said with that, so be careful what you start.)

If you love playing with rhyme or want to start small and build stanzas like blocks, look to a couplet.

Couplets are another great brief form of poetry, recognizable with its two lines. After that, there is some flexibility in the form. 

• Most couplets rhyme, but not required. 

• A couplet can be closed (ending with punctuation) or open and carrying into another couplet or verse

• Couplets can stand alone, or they can be stanzas in a longer poem.

• Traditionally it has a rhythm such as iambic pentameter, but there are also free form couplets.

Writing Task

The great thing about writing couplets is that you can take as little or as much time creating one. Your creativity can go as far as you want to take it. I actually found inspiration searching for rhymes on websites like RhymeZone.com. Challenge your word choice, grammar structure, and even rhythm with a couplet. In my example below, I felt that my first couplet could easily stand alone, but just like the lines in this form of poetry, it needed another stanza to make a pair.

A simple, yet worthy poem of spring;

A couplet that rhymes and ends with zing.

Cheeky and brief, like a smile passing by

Not long or drawn out; a blink of an eye.

Feel free to share any of your couplets in the comments below.