What's a "rhyming couplet"?
Last class you learned about iambic pentameter and trochaic tetrameter (used in the witches' cauldron scene). Iambic pentameter that DOES NOT RHYME is called
"blank verse",
and MOST of Macbeth the play is written in this way. Shakespeare uses PROSE (non poetic writing that sounds like regular speech) for characters who are:
poor or common (like the Porter)
insane or mentally unstable (like Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene)
informative bits (like the letter Lady Macbeth reads from her husband)
RHYMING COUPLETS
Often, at the end of a scene or at the end of a string of blank verse, Shakespeare throws in some rhyming couplets to catch our attention. Rhyming couplets are PAIRS of lines that rhyme at the end and form a complete thought.
"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks.
Whoever knocks." (Act. 4, Scene 1)
When a rhyming couplet is ALSO IN IAMBIC PENTAMETER and 10 beats per line it's called a
"Heroic Couplet"
"God's benison go with you and with those
That would make good of bad and friends of foes" (Act. 2, Scene 4)
or
"Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to Heaven or to Hell" (Act. 2 Scene 1)
Sometimes, you need to keep in mind that words that might not rhyme for us may have rhymed more in Shakespeare's era (or he could have been taking poetic license):
"The mind I sway by and the heart I bear
Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear" (Act 5, Scene 3)
Out of twenty-eight scenes in Macbeth nineteen end with a "tag" couplet at the end of the scene. Heroic couplets, however, appear occasionally in the middle of a scene in blank verse. See lines 90-101 of iv. i. There are some fifty-four such couplets in Macbeth.
Your Challenge
poem 1
1. Write two easy-to-rhyme words on a post-it note (1 noun and 1 verb OR adjective)
2. Exchange post-it with a partner - that person (and you) need to each write a couplet poem (2 lines that rhyme at the end) using at least 1 of the words for inspiration. The poem should relate to the PLOT / STORYLINE of Macbeth. We will share these.
poem 2
3. Write a line of poetry ABOUT A CHARACTER in MACBETH (use a notecard). Try to make the last line a bit easy to rhyme. Label the card with the character and your name and drop the card in "the head" bowl.
4. Draw a card written by someone else and try to finish the couplet by writing the second line (we will share these).
hunt for couplets in Macbeth
After posting the two poems to the Padlet under "Original Couplets", get together with a small group and hunt for couplets in Macbeth. Try to find 3 different ones not mentioned here.
Post your findings to the MacPadlet (last column) and include your names:
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