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Beat

Movement
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 mid-20th-century American literary movement, often associated with spontaneity, jazz-like rhythms, and counterculture

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Detailed Definition
Beat in poetry refers to the perceived pulse or rhythmic stress within a line, whether aligned with metrical feet or emerging organically in free verse; distinct from strict meter, the beat encompasses the natural cadence of speech, musical influence, and bodily rhythm, central to oral traditions and modernist innovations—Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” for instance, uses long-breathed, jazz-inflected beats to create a prophetic, improvisational energy.
Example
Example in poetry:
In meter, a beat is a perceived stress or rhythmic pulse, as in the four beats of “Tyger Tyger, burning bright”; Ballad meter often gives a line four beats followed by three, as in many versions of “Sir Patrick Spens”; Gerard Manley Hopkins counts strong stresses in sprung rhythm, making beat more important than a fixed syllable total; A spoken-word poet may mark beats through repetition, pauses, and emphatic delivery rather than regular feet
Additional Notes
Beat in poetry refers to rhythm or stressed syllables, but in modern context also connects to the Beat Generation, a movement known for free-flowing, spontaneous verse.
Also Known As
Stress rhythmic pulse metrical accent rhythmic emphasis Ictus Rhythm swinge Pulse rithim
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