An end-stopped, rhymed couplet that contains a complete thought. Such couplets were usual ways of closing and resuming Renaissance sonnets, although they are found elsewhere as well. Here is one which ends Shakespeares Sonnet 94:

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

Published 01 November 2001

Citation: Editors. "Closed Couplet". The Literary Encyclopedia. 1 November 2001.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=196, accessed 9 February 2010.]