A couplet is a pair of lines in a poem that usually rhyme and have the same rhythm. The two lines work together like partners, creating a complete thought or image. You can spot couplets easily because they often appear as matching pairs, like this famous example from Dr. Seuss: “I do not like green eggs and ham. / I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.”

Couplets can stand alone or appear as part of longer poems. Shakespeare loved ending his sonnets with a rhyming couplet that wrapped up the poem's main idea. Many nursery rhymes use couplets too, like “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, / Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.”

Writers use couplets because they create a satisfying sense of completion, like closing a door with a gentle click. When both lines rhyme and the rhythm matches, your ear expects that second line to arrive, and when it does, it feels just right. That's why couplets work so well for memorable sayings, jokes, and poems you want people to remember.