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artistic detachment

Concept
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

A stance of objectivity or distance maintained by a poet toward the subject

Detailed Definition
Artistic detachment is a poetic stance wherein the speaker maintains emotional distance, objectivity, or ironic remove from the subject matter, often to enhance clarity, universality, or critical perspective; associated with modernist aesthetics, it avoids sentimentality in favor of precision and formal control.
Example
Example in poetry:
Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” uses detached irony to mask vulnerability; Bishop’s “One Art” employs understatement to distance personal loss; Artistic detachment allows critique without sentimentality; Modernist poets favor it to avoid Romantic excess; It creates tension between surface calm and underlying emotion.
Additional Notes
artistic detachment is the objective and impersonal attitude a poet maintains toward the subject matter and characters of their work, aiming to avoid overt sentimentality or didacticism; contrasts with overtly confessional poetry.
Also Known As
Aesthetic distance Detached art Artistic separation Observing poise
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