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Hello, this is Frank Hubeny. Today at Meeting the Bar the topic is couplets as the final part of a poem. The poem need be no longer than a couplet, two lines, or it could have anything else before the final couplet including free verse or a prose poem.
A couplet is two similar lines of verse. Both lines have the same meter. They do not have to rhyme. However, they should make sense together and have a similar metrical structure.
A couplet can stand alone. Consider Alexander Pope’s bit of humor:
I am his Highness' dog at Kew; Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
Something like that would be great for this prompt. However one may write something more elaborate.
For this prompt anything can come before the couplet. A Shakespearean sonnet with a couplet at the end giving the reader the punch line(s) would also do. Perhaps you would like to modify the haibun form and replace the haiku with a couplet or two American sentences or one American sentence split on two lines. Or one could write a free verse poem followed by a final couplet. I have often wanted to write rambling sentences like Gerald Stern does in “Box of Cigars” but end them with metered lines that rhymed like a couplet.
The only constraint for this prompt is that a couplet of some sort should appear at the end.
We featured couplets before. In 2012 Gay Reiser Cannon described the “framed couplet” where both the initial accented syllable and the last accented syllable rhymed between the two lines. Those would be great as well. I even featured the couplet in 2018 to celebrate the solstice.
To participate, post your poem with a final couplet on your blog. Don’t forget to link back to this prompt so others know how to find it. Copy the link to your post and paste it in the Mister Linky below. The Mister LInky will be open for the next 48 hours (two days).
Read what other people have linked. See how they faced the challenge. You may even leave a comment below, if you wish.
Good evening poets, and thank you Frank for hosting this Thursday, and for a couplet prompt – I like couplets!
I do, too. They are short and can be a good ending or beginning to longer writing.
The bar is open!
Hello Frank and All. I just looked back at the linked posts and think I might try a crystalline. Wish me luck! It’s grey today, warmer though, and I even hear a few spring peepers out there.
It is good that spring is in the air. It gives us all hope.
Hello… I opted for short today… just one couplet first and last.
Short is good. It is amazing how much you were able to say with a few words.
Ooo, couplets one of my favorite things, very difficult. Pour me out a dry white, spritzed, and I’ll get on it!
Here is your dry white spritzed! Couplets are difficult. They have to carry a lot in only two lines. But they are often very memorable.
Hi Frank. Thanks for hosting. I went for what I’m calling a non-sonnet.😀 Perhaps, not very creative. I’ll be back later to read.
Non-sonnets are fine. I have also noticed there are very few people in the nearby park.
Hi, thanks for hosting. I decided to post a couplet that came to me the other day, and then stubbornly refused to be added on. 🙂
Your couplet was very powerful. The “shameful shards” stick in my mind. I am going to have to try getting rid of all those bits in my own box.
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Hi Frank,
I tried this couplet…my first time. Thanks for hosting. I think on this lockdown day I’ll have a shot of Ouzo. 😊
Pat
Here’s the Ouzo! I like to think those same birds come back year after year as well.
Frank, thank you for the creative invitation and for the joy you bring to it with your passion for poetry.
Thank you, Paul! I remember trailers like the one illustrating your post. Perhaps someone still makes them.
Here there’s a bit of a retro thing, yes I remember them, but I think this one would lower your bank balance 🙂
Thanks Frank!
I liked the shadow of the hand against the drops of paint or watercolor in your first photo.
Thanks Frank. I had fun figuring out how to photograph the shadow of my hand.
I like the conclusive feel to couplets at the end, even if the poem has not used rhyme prior. It’s like a tip of the hat to The Tradition.
Good point! It is a tip of the hat to tradition. And adds an interesting contrast to what came before.
Thanks for the offering. Poetry writing and reading is a perfect distraction today.
I am glad it is a distraction considering all the concerns we face today.
Poetry is always a great place to go alone or with others.