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Attractive tercet

Form
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 three-line stanza whose rhyme or sound pattern creates a compelling or cohesive effect

Detailed Definition
An attractive tercet is a three-line stanza whose internal cohesion—achieved through rhyme, rhythm, imagery, or syntactic parallelism—creates a magnetic aesthetic appeal; it often functions as a self-contained lyrical unit within larger forms like terza rima or villanelles, drawing attention through its balanced structure.
Example
Example in poetry:
Dante’s terza rima in Inferno (e.g., “mezzo” / “selva oscura” / “ritrova”) forms an attractive tercet through interlocking rhyme; Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” uses tercets with ABA BCB rhyme that pull the reader forward; Wallace Stevens’s “The Snow Man” employs unrhymed but sonically cohesive tercets that create unity; a modern tercet like “She walks in silence, / leaves no trace, / yet fills the space” uses assonance to bind lines
Additional Notes
Attractive tercet: A three-line stanza whose internal cohesion—through sound, theme, or syntax—exerts a strong unifying effect; often appears in forms like the terza rima or as part of a magnetic trio (10150).
Also Known As
Magnetic tercet Resonant triplet Cohesive three-line stanza Lyrical trio
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