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Body catalog

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 lists and describes parts of the human body, often as praise (blazon) or critique (anti-blazon).

Detailed Definition
Body catalog is a poetic list or inventory of body parts—often fragmented, reassembled, or recontextualized—to explore identity, objectification, trauma, or sensuality; unlike the traditional blazon, the body catalog may subvert idealization through clinical detachment, surreal juxtaposition, or political critique, as in Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” or Lucie Brock-Broido’s anatomical imagery.
Example
Example in poetry:
Body catalog: poems listing parts of the body or bodily actions; e.g., Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” with catalogues of body features and functions; Charles Reznikoff’s descriptive lists; poetry using enumeration for emphasis and thematic depth.
Additional Notes
A rhetorical device, related to the blazon, that lists and often describes the various parts of the human body; Can be used for descriptive, analytical, or purely metaphorical purposes; Less restrictive than the blazon in terms of praise; See also catalogue.
Also Known As
Body inventory Anatomical catalogue Physiological list poem Blason
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