Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry The Frame Couplet Construction
An open couplet is a rhymed two-line poetic unit that is enjambed. The end of the frame is not closed but the subject is carried forward into the subsequent couplet without pause or punctuation at the end of the line. This technique was introduced to English poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) and continued to gain popularity into the 17th century when it was nicknamed "riding rhyme". This stanzaic form is also called Chaucer's couplet because of its use in his Canterbury Tales which demonstrated its particular suitabil