The roots of binary structures can be traced to musical settings of the literary couplet. When two lines of poetry share rhythm and rhyme, the usual musical setting is two phrases that are the same or similar, except for the end of each phrase. This is the reverse of the lines being set, which are different until the end of each line, which is the same as or similar to its partner - that is to say, it rhymes. In the musical setting, the first phrase is normally open - unresolved - and the second phrase is closed - resolved. In tonal music, this is normally a half-cadence in the first phrase, and a full cadence in the second phrase.
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