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Acephalous rising line

Meter
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An iambic line that begins with a stressed syllable because its initial unstressed syllable has been omitted, creating a truncated or headless rhythm.

Detailed Definition
An acephalous rising line is a metrical line in poetry that begins with a stressed syllable instead of the expected unstressed one, effectively "beheading" the initial foot; commonly found in iambic verse where the first unstressed syllable is omitted, creating a trochaic substitution that adds rhythmic variation and emphasis, as in the opening of Shakespeare’s “Double, double toil and trouble” which starts with a stressed “Dou-” despite being in iambic tetrameter.
Example
Example in poetry:
A line like “Break, break, break” (Tennyson) lacks a headless iamb and begins with a stressed syllable, making it acephalous rising; “Out of the night that covers me” (Henley) starts stressed, omitting the initial unstressed beat; “Stop all the clocks” (Auden) opens with a strong stress, skipping the expected weak syllable; “Hark! Hark! The lark” (Shakespeare) begins with an immediate stress, creating an acephalous rising rhythm.
Additional Notes
Acephalous rising line is another term for a "headless" iambic line, where the initial unstressed syllable is omitted, creating a stronger opening stress; common in dramatic or emphatic verse, especially in trochaic substitution within iambic meter.
Also Known As
Headless iambic line acephalous iamb truncated rising line initial-syllable omission Headless rising line Iambic tetrameter acephalous
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