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Atephrasis

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

A poetic device that deliberately omits vivid visual description or ekphrastic detail, creating an effect of absence, lacunae, or understatement; it often heightens mental imagery through negation and suggestion.

Detailed Definition
Atephrasis is a rhetorical or poetic device involving the vivid, often ekphrastic description of a work of art, scene, or object, rendered with such intensity that it evokes the subject’s presence; derived from Greek roots meaning “without speech,” it paradoxically uses language to animate the silent or static.
Example
Example in poetry:
Atephrasis: A rare term possibly meaning “without description”; if so, minimalist poetry like haiku: “Old pond / frog jumps in / sound of water” (Bashō), avoids explicit description, implying through suggestion.
Additional Notes
Writing about religious skepticism or atheism through poetic form. Rare specialized term. Related to philosophical poetry and religious verse but from non-theistic perspective. Explores absence of divine presence.
Also Known As
Ash poem ash verse ekphrasis of ashes cinereal description
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