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Amphilogical verse

Device
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

Verse that deliberately employs ambiguous phrasing, double entendres, or syntactic uncertainty to invite multiple interpretations simultaneously.

Detailed Definition
Amphilogical verse employs language that is deliberately self-contradictory or paradoxical, creating tension between opposing meanings to evoke philosophical ambiguity or emotional complexity; it thrives on oxymoron and aporia, as in metaphysical poetry exploring faith and doubt.
Example
Example in poetry:
Amphilogical verse in Wallace Stevens’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”; amphilogical verse in John Ashbery’s “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror”; amphilogical verse uses paradoxical or self-contradictory statements to explore perception; amphilogical verse resists singular interpretation through logical ambiguity
Additional Notes
Poetry exploiting ambiguous or equivocal language throughout. Related to amphibology (ambiguous grammar). Creates deliberate multiple meanings. See puns, double entendre. Differs from simple ambiguity by systematic doubling.
Also Known As
Double-meaning meter Equivocal verse Ambiguous measure Two-sense prosody
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