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Backward cause-effect

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 presentation of consequence prior to cause in poetic narration.

Detailed Definition
Backward cause-effect is a narrative or logical structure in poetry where the effect is presented before its cause, creating suspense, irony, or psychological depth; this inversion challenges linear temporality, prompting readers to reconstruct meaning retroactively, as in “She wept—her lover had left.”
Example
Example in poetry:
Cause and effect reversed: “He died, for he was born”; “She wept, because she loved”; “The house fell, since it was built”; “The war ended, as it had begun”
Additional Notes
Backward cause-effect is a rhetorical device where the effect is stated before the cause (e.g., "The field was silent, for the birds had flown"); creates dramatic suspense or emphasis; a form of anastrophe.
Also Known As
retro-cause reversed causality backwards effect inverted logic Antimetalepsis
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