¹     A couplet [CUP-let] is the simplest form of poetry. Do you see the word "couple" in couplet? A couple is two of something. A couplet is a poem made of two lines of rhyming poetry that usually have the same meter. There are no rules about length or rhythm. Two words that rhyme can be called a couplet. Do you know what the pioneers ate when they got desperate?

Snake
Steak
 
²     Seriously though, most poems will consist of more than two words. The rule to remember is that each line in a couplet has an end rhyme. We can mark end rhymes alphabetically to keep track of the rhyming pattern. For instance, look at this couplet:

        My friend has eyes like mud.
        He always chews his cud.
 
³     The words mud and cud are end rhymes. We'll use the letter "A" to mark the rhyme pattern. We can string couplets together to make a longer poem, so now I'll join that couplet with another:

        His hair looks like burnt hay.
        At full moons he will bay.

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