Home › Glossary › Letter A

Agon stanza

Structure
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

A stanza structured as a formal poetic debate or dialogue, often between opposing voices, ideas, or personified abstractions.

Detailed Definition
Agon stanza is a stanzaic unit structured around conflict or debate, often alternating perspectives or embedding rhetorical questions and rebuttals; it serves as a microcosm of the larger agonistic framework in poems exploring moral, political, or existential dilemmas.
Example
Example in poetry:
Agon stanza in Greek dramatic choruses (e.g., Aeschylus’s “Agamemnon”); agon stanzas structure debate in medieval debate poems like “The Owl and the Nightingale”; modern agon in Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen” pits internal/external voices; agon stanza formalizes poetic conflict or dialogue
Additional Notes
Stanza form designed for debate or dialogue between opposing voices. Agon means "struggle." Related to flyting and debate poem. Each stanza presents contrasting argument or perspective.
Also Known As
Contest stanza Debate stanza Competitive stanza
Skip to main content