Home › Glossary › Letter A

Anagram verse

Form
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

Poetry where words or lines can be rearranged to form new meanings

Detailed Definition
Anagram verse is poetry in which words, lines, or entire stanzas are constructed from rearranged letters of a source word or phrase, turning linguistic constraint into creative expression; it emphasizes the plasticity of language and hidden meanings within textual form.
Example
Example in poetry:
Unica Zürn’s anagram poems rearrange names into psychological portraits; Harryette Mullen’s "Sleeping with the Dictionary" plays with anagrammatic sound; Oulipo poets like Georges Perec used anagrams as generative constraint; Anagram verse reveals hidden identities or linguistic echoes; Each line may derive from permuting a core word’s letters.
Additional Notes
Poetry incorporating anagrams of words, names, or phrases. Related to acrostic and wordplay. Can be structural device or thematic element. Medieval poets used for coded messages. See Oulipo for modern experimental uses.
Also Known As
anagrammatic poetry letter-play verse
Skip to main content