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Blazon

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 poetic form that systematically describes and praises the physical features of a beloved, often using metaphorical or hyperbolic comparisons.

Explore this topic in depth (2)

Love Poetry — From the courtly conventions of the troubadours to the plain-spoken intimacy of modern verse, love poetry has never stopped changing shape. This guide traces its history and offers practical ways to read it closely.

Renaissance Poetry — Renaissance poetry emerged from a changing world of classical learning, print, religious conflict, court culture and global exploration. Its poems often sound intensely personal, yet they are also highly crafted performances shaped by inherited forms, rhetorical skill and music.

Detailed Definition
Blazon is a poetic mode that catalogues and describes parts of a person’s body—typically a woman’s—using metaphorical comparisons, originating in 16th-century courtly love poetry; while traditionally laudatory, modern blazons may deconstruct objectification or reclaim agency.
Example
Example in poetry:
Blazon in Sir Philip Sidney’s "Astrophil and Stella": "Her lips, like cherries charming men to bite"; Spenser’s "Epithalamion" catalogues the bride’s virtues; Contemporary blazon by Terrance Hayes reimagines the form racially; Blazon traditionally praises through anatomical inventory; Modern blazons critique the male gaze
Additional Notes
English/Elizabethan version of blason, praising or satirizing body parts sequentially. Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 famously inverts conventions. Related: catalogue poem, anatomical verse. Study both celebratory and satirical examples.
Other Meanings of “Blazon”
Also Known As
Praise catalog Beauty inventory Body-part celebration Physical feature enumeration Blazonry Blason
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