Home › Glossary › Letter A

anticipatory response

Device
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 reply or explanation offered in anticipation of a question or objection within the poetic narration

Detailed Definition
Anticipatory response is a poetic technique where a speaker or narrator reacts to an event, idea, or emotion before it fully unfolds or is explicitly stated, creating tension or dramatic irony; this device often engages readers by implying future developments through present emotional or rhetorical cues, as seen in prophetic or introspective verse where the response precedes its logical trigger.
Example
Example in poetry:
A student predicting the ending of a poem based on its tone; Readers anticipating an emotional climax before it occurs; Foreseeing the resolution of a conflict in a ballad; Guessing the poet’s answer before a rhetorical question is completed
Additional Notes
Reader’s tendency to predict a poem’s resolution or response based on early cues; can be used intentionally by poets to set up twists or emotional turns.
Also Known As
Anticipatory reply Proleptic response Fore-echoed answer Preemptive rejoinder
Skip to main content