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aural figure

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 prioritizes sonic qualities—such as alliteration, assonance, or rhythm—to shape meaning and experience.

Detailed Definition
An aural figure is a rhetorical or phonetic device employed specifically to shape the sound texture of a poem, including alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, or euphony; these figures manipulate the acoustic properties of language to evoke mood, emphasize meaning, or create musical effects that support the poem’s emotional or thematic core.
Example
Example in poetry:
Alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia are key aural figures; In “The Raven,” “silken, sad, uncertain” uses sibilance as aural figure; Aural figures shape a poem’s sonic texture and mood; They operate independently of semantic meaning; Modern sound poetry foregrounds aural figures as primary content.
Additional Notes
aural figure is a broad term for any figure of speech or device that uses sound as its primary characteristic, like onomatopoeia, euphony, or cacophony; it is an umbrella term for many sound devices.
Also Known As
auditory figure sonic motif aural device acoustic emblem Auricular image
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