Couplets are an important component of so many classic poems. Strictly speaking, a couplet is just any two successive lines of verse, but when poetry critics use the term ‘couplet’, they are usually (though not always) referring to a rhyming pair of lines, as in this short, witty epigram from Alexander Pope: I am His Highness’ dog at Kew;

Since rhyme schemes are repeating patterns, those patterns naturally suggest ways to break longer stanzas into shorter units. There are two types of couplets that can be defined using couplets: rhymed couplets and unrhymed couplets. Rhymed Couplets. Rhymed couplets, unsurprisingly, are couplets in which the two lines share a rhyme.