Leave your endless odes at the door please! Sometimes all it takes is a couplet to hit the spot. Post your witty or clever couplet of rhymed verse in the comments section below. Here are some examples from the challenge initiator Roy E. Peterson:
Our Christmas Party
Our office party was a blast.
The cop cars got there pretty fast.
A Pan Is a Pan
A pan is a pan. A kettle has a spout.
A man is a man. The reason will stick out.
Sitting in Public
If you sit in public and a stranger’s next to you,
Ask him, “Did you bring the money? I did what I had to do.”
Antivirus Wipes
I finally cleaned my house today and dusted TV panels.
Alas, my antivirus wipes lost all of the news channels.
Here are a few more:
Explaining
If what I said does not stick in your brain,
I don’t have the time nor crayons to explain.
My Silence
My silence does not mean I could agree with your big mess.
It is just that your stupidity has left me speechless.
Believe in Yourself
I believe in myself, I know I can do everything.
If cauliflower makes pizza bread, I can be anything.
Dog for Free
I have a dog to give you. I need no recompense.
But first I must jump over my neighbor’s picket fence.
MORNING BREW
If I don’t have my coffee,
I’ll function quite offly
I just knew this challenge was right for you!
Count upon the nodding masses
To elevate the sodding asses.
I put this couplet in the category of “modern realism.” This one is a concise arrow that hits the intended target. Thank you for the clever contribution.
Love this spot-on two liner Mike. Sadly, I feel it applies to Canada right now.
That saddens me, Norma, but I have read some articles on Canada, and you are correct.
Thanks!! Norma!
These are bd rhyming quatrains rather than couplets, but here’s some advice from our “Marital Methodology” leaflet: Electronic inter-spousal communication should be in rhyming quatrains – “if there were a cup of Coffee / to pour into the abyss / I could get up quite productive / as if nothing were amiss.” – “Do you have a known location? / Are you on the planet Earth? / can you tell me your vocation / for whatever it may be worth?”
Fred, I am fine with these poems as couplets. “A poetry couplet is a pair of two consecutive lines that form a unified unit of meaning, most often linked by rhyme, meter, or both. The essential feature is that the two lines work together as a complete thought.” Many couplets can also be formed structurally in a quatrain. “A Pan…” is the one out of four that would also make a good quatrain.
Fred, just for reference, one source of famous couplets mentioned: “Though originally in quatrains, many English renderings emphasize paired lines of philosophical reflection, often functioning like couplets in spirit and structure.”
I should have thought of this one for the introduction:
Concise Couplets
So much can be said with a couplet that’s concise.
Length is not important when wording is precise.
Yes.
Spin the bottle, kiss the chick —
Get her horizontal quick.
Mercy, I really had to laugh at that one! Great contribution.
You won’t have any fans among the woke brigade, but it’s a clever couplet!
The following famous couplets, some with commentary, that may be of interest:
Alexander Pope — Essay on Criticism
“A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”
John Dryden — Portrait of Zimri
“A man so various, that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankind’s epitome.”
William Shakespeare — closing couplets in his sonnets
“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
Shakespeare often ends sonnets with a rhyming couplet that reframes or resolves the poem’s argument.
Geoffrey Chaucer — The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer’s Middle English couplets form the backbone of his narrative verse, establishing the tradition of the rhyming iambic pentameter couplet later perfected by Dryden and Pope.
Clement Clarke Moore — A Visit from St. Nicholas
“’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;”
The poem unfolds in rhyming couplets that create its memorable storytelling rhythm.
Andrew Frisardi — “Rain at Night”
“The city lies back in its winding-sheet
While little digits drum a steady beat”
A modern example showing how couplets can evoke atmosphere and imagery.
It’s funny when you call a woman Honey,
Unless her ass is sweeter than molasses.
Mercy, C.B. An interesting internal rhyme for a couplet. Thank you for sharing.
The couplets below are lines 390-400 of my heroic couplet satire The Wokeiad:-
And now beyond the candelabra’s glow
Primordial Nox insinuates a toe.
The porters pick up all the hardcore porn
Composting on the College Master’s lawn,
And jowly Fellows yawning stretch their legs
And drain the Tawny down to its last dregs,
And mouldy Stalinist and Maoist creep
Leave off their quarrel and retire to sleep,
And soon the quad resounds with gurgling snores
Of rat-arsed monomaniacal bores.
Richard, great contribution. This fits with the many great heroic couplets of history.
The prepper has become the doomsday hero…
Survival rates are still a great big zero.
Great rhyming couplet and another concise arrow!
If it is spoken with one’s dying breath,
it leaves a whisper that out lingers death.
David, this is so true. It made me think of deathbed confessions, prayers, and other such final words. Wonderful contribution.
STARDOM
Money, fame, complete success –
How’d it turn to such a mess?
BREAKING UP
It’s been a long time since they kissed.
The hand he held is now a fist.
David, both of these are great couplets related to reality. Thank you for these.
Thanks Roy, this challenge was fun.
One Hero, Two Jackasses
I died a hero, brave, to save – myself, from two: one crazy knave /
The dude I saved? That one who spoke – all dull and trite: what jackass bloke
Alec, interesting contribution. Thank you for sharing.
Servetus found the source of pulmonary circulation,
but “heretics” were poorly served by Calvin’s condemnation.
Excellent couplet of historic acumen and value. Thank you, Corey, for sharing.
On Twin Sisters with Eating Disorders
One was an anorectic shrimp,
The other a brontosauran blimp.
(from A Gallery of Ethopaths)
Those are amazing and funny! Great contribution!
Inversion
The pious throw shadows that swallow the light
While rebels light torches that brighten the night.
Wow, a great one Mike! I love how you so concisely treated the subject matter of the pious and the rebels. You said so much in your couplet.
Me in a fight:
If I got into a fight, I might look terrible.
I only hope that I can make it memorable.
HELPING MY PRETTY NEIGHBOR
By Roy E. Peterson
I just helped my pretty neighbor bury a heavy carpet.
Her boyfriend would have done it, but he’s out of town, darn it!
(Hint: Why was the carpet so heavy?)
Muzzled
When demons have demonized speech
Truth’s beauty is out of our reach.
Susan, absolutely on target and a great couplet that resounds!
Roy, thank you for your lovely response, and for the fun the challenge has provided. A smile is a precious gift – thank you for making us smile.
Whoever snickers at impious crass,
God spoke to you from Balaam’s ass.
Footnote to the term “ass”:
As the beast of burden that draws a cart,
Not that synonym for the hinder part.
Got it! Excellent couplet concisely hitting the target. The note was a good one of explanation, although it likely was interpreted by readers one way or the other. For me it was an entendre.
Thank you. I was just having fun with the “footnote,” as I assumed most would distinguish correctly. Thanks for the challenge.
A limerick is supposed to be funny.
How come you’re not laughing yet, honey?
Karen, I thought I had responded to this, but maybe I forgot to click on Post Comment. This is an excellent couplet and makes me wonder about relationships between lovers and spouses.
THE MORAL OF FRANKENSTEIN
The instauration of a revenant
can prove very unpleasanant.
BAUDELAIRE
You were romantic, Baudelaire,
until in time you lost your hair.
THE SAD TRUTH
No matter how clean we are, or how neat,
we always have dirt on the soles of our feet.
Your excellent contributions included a wonderful play on words in the first one and unabashed humor in all three. Thank you for sharing with us.
Epitaph for a Russian Soldier
After Rudyard Kipling
If any question why we died,
Tell them, because Putin lied.
Anthony, your biting couplet tells a perfectly grim tale concisely exposing the truth! Well done!
Life with a custard pie
Stifles the heart’s outcry.
Wonderful, Anthony! Love it!