Bricolage

Structure
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

Poetry assembled from fragments of existing texts or cultural materials

Detailed Definition
Bricolage in poetry describes the creative assembly of diverse, often found or heterogeneous materials—quotations, fragments, media snippets, multilingual phrases—into a new textual collage; drawing from anthropology and postmodern theory, poetic bricolage challenges notions of originality and coherence, exemplified by T.S. Eliot’s allusive method or contemporary digital poetry that remixes cultural detritus into critical or lyrical wholes.
Example
Example in poetry:
Bricolage in T.S. Eliot’s "The Waste Land": fragments of myth, song, and news; Contemporary example: Claudia Rankine’s "Citizen" blends essay, image, and lyric; Bricolage assembles disparate materials into new meaning; The form reflects postmodern fragmentation; Bricolage poets are cultural scavengers
Additional Notes
Postmodern technique assembling disparate materials into new work. From French "do-it-yourself." Related: collage, found poetry, pastiche. See also: intertextuality. Celebrates recombination over original creation.
Also Known As
Skip to main content