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Breath-based line

Meter
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 line constructed to follow the natural phrasing and pacing of human respiration, supporting oral performance.

Detailed Definition
breathing-based line is a poetic unit structured according to the rhythms of inhalation and exhalation, where line breaks correspond to breath cycles to create an organic, somatic prosody; this approach, foundational to projective verse and somatic poetics, treats the poem as an extension of the poet’s physical presence and energetic field.
Example
Example in poetry:
Breath-based line in Denise Levertov: "The stream flows / (pause) / over stones"; Contemporary example: "This line ends / where my breath catches"; Breath-based lines in Native American oral poetry follow vocal cadence; The form makes physiology visible in typography; Breath-based lines prioritize embodiment over meter

Ginsberg’s “Howl” is a canonical example of breathing-based lines driven by lung capacity; Olson’s “Letter to Elaine Feinstein” uses breathing-based lines to map thought; C.D. Wright’s “One Big Self” uses breathing-based lines to pace documentary poetics; In “Citizen,” Rankine uses breathing-based phrasing to modulate racial tension; Kamau Brathwaite’s “Sycorax Video Style” aligns lines with Caribbean breath rhythms.
Additional Notes
Poetry line measured by comfortable speaking breath. Related: breath verse, breath unit. See also: variable foot. Performance-oriented; connects written text to oral delivery and bodily experience.

Poetry that uses the process of breathing (inhalation and exhalation) as the fundamental unit and regulator of its rhythm, lineation, and pacing; Central to the theories of Projective Verse; Related to Breath-measured line.
Also Known As
Breath-measured line respiratory verse breathing-based line natural breath line Breath-led line Breathing rhythm line Exhaled line
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