Home › Glossary › Letter A

Anagrammed sonnet

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

A sonnet in which essential words or phrases are formed through anagrams, adding a layer of linguistic puzzle or symbolic resonance.

Detailed Definition
Anagrammed sonnet is a fourteen-line poem where the letters of one sonnet are rearranged to create another, or where anagrammatic relationships structure the poem's development. This extreme constraint requires that the second poem use exactly the same letters as the first but in different arrangements, creating a tour de force of linguistic manipulation. Successfully executing an anagrammed sonnet while maintaining meaning in both versions represents one of poetry's most challenging technical achievements.
Example
Example in poetry:
A Shakespearean sonnet reworked so each line is an anagram of the original line exemplifies an Anagrammed sonnet; contemporary poet Daniel Levin Becker creates Anagrammed sonnets as Oulipian exercises; the form reveals hidden linguistic possibilities within canonical texts; Anagrammed sonnets challenge notions of authorship and originality; they serve as both homage and deconstruction of source material
Additional Notes
Anagrammed sonnet is a sonnet where the final line, a key phrase, or perhaps the entire poem, is an anagram of a predetermined phrase or the title, adding a layer of intellectual puzzle to the form.
Also Known As
Letter-shuffled sonnet Permuted sonnet Word-play fourteen-liner Anagrammatic sonnet
Skip to main content