Home › Glossary › Letter B

Beginning appeal

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

An initial address in a poem seeking guidance, attention, or blessing

Detailed Definition
Beginning appeal is an opening rhetorical strategy in which the poet directly addresses a deity, muse, audience, or abstract force to invoke inspiration, establish tone, or frame the poem’s purpose; common in epic and lyric traditions, it functions as both a conventional gesture and a means of aligning the poem with a larger cultural or spiritual context from its first lines.
Example
Example in poetry:
Homer’s “Iliad”: “Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles”; Virgil’s “Aeneid”: “I sing of arms and the man”; John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”: “Sing, Heavenly Muse”; Dante’s “Inferno”: “O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!”
Additional Notes
A beginning appeal is an opening address that invokes a force (muse, deity, reader, or abstract concept) to lend authority or frame the poem’s purpose; rooted in epic tradition; students should consider how the appeal sets tone, scope, and voice.
Also Known As
Initial invocation Opening address Proemial appeal Commencing entreaty Invocation
Skip to main content