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bodice

Apparel
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 close-fitting upper garment for women, typically covering the torso from neck to waist, often structured with boning or lacing, evoking femininity, constraint, and the shaping of the body.

Detailed Definition
The bodice is a garment of significant poetic freight, frequently appearing in narratives of female experience—courtship, marriage, work, and resistance. Its fitted nature and structural elements (stays, whalebone) allow poets to meditate on the physical and social constraints placed upon women. A tightly laced bodice might symbolize the suffocation of patriarchy, while a loosened one signals release, intimacy, or mourning. In pastoral poetry, the simple linen bodice of a milkmaid contrasts with the ornate velvet of a lady, marking class difference. The bodice also holds scent, and in elegiac verse, a surviving bodice carries the lingering perfume of the deceased. Its vulnerability to being torn or unlaced makes it a charged object in scenes of passion, violence, or rescue.
Example
Example in poetry:
"The rose did caper on her cheek, her bodice rose and fell" (Emily Dickinson, "The Lovers"); "They were thrust in the band that my bodice encloses; but the breast-knots were broken, the roses went free" (Andrew Lang, "Les Roses de Sâdi"); "I lift a winter coat with narrow bodice, neat lapels" (Doireann Ní Ghríofa); "Her bodice, stiff with whalebone, held her like a promise she could not break"; "The bodice's embroidery told a story of hands that had worked for months"; "She unlaced her bodice and breathed for the first time that day"
Additional Notes
The bodice is a garment of significant poetic freight, appearing frequently in narratives of female experience—courtship, marriage, work, and resistance. Its fitted nature and structural elements (stays, boning, lacing) allow poets to meditate on the physical and social constraints placed upon women's bodies. A tightly laced bodice can symbolize suffocation or patriarchal control, while a loosened one signals release, intimacy, or mourning. In pastoral poetry, the simple linen bodice of a milkmaid contrasts sharply with the ornate velvet of a lady, marking class difference. The bodice also holds scent, and in elegiac verse, a surviving bodice carries the lingering perfume of the deceased. Its vulnerability to being torn or unlaced makes it a charged object in scenes of passion, violence, or rescue. The bodice is closely related to the corset, stay, and stomacher, each with their own historical and poetic nuances. Students should consider how the bodice's shaping of the female form makes it a natural vehicle for poems about femininity, embodiment, and the gap between inner and outer selves.
Also Known As
fitted top corseted torso upper garment corset
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