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blazon poem

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 Renaissance poetic form cataloging a lover’s physical features

Detailed Definition
blazon poem is a lyric tradition originating in Renaissance courtly poetry that catalogs a beloved’s physical features—eyes like stars, lips like coral—praising each part in hyperbolic, often objectifying detail; later poets, especially feminist writers like Margaret Atwood or Carol Ann Duffy, subvert the blazon to critique gender norms, reclaim agency, or deconstruct idealized beauty through ironic or fragmented reworkings.
Example
Example in poetry:
Blazon poem examples: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 describing mistress’s features in a detailed, metaphor-rich way (“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”); medieval love poetry cataloging beloved’s physical virtues line by line; Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnets praising beloved’s eyes and hair.
Additional Notes
A poem, popular in the Renaissance, that praises or describes a person's physical features part by part; Typically focuses on a female subject, using metaphors to idealize each feature (e.g., lips like coral, hair like gold); Can be reversed as an anti-blazon; Related to Body catalog.
Also Known As
Poetic catalogue of beauty Body inventory Ornament poem Blason
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