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Broken meter

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

Rhythm that deliberately disrupts or fractures an expected metrical pattern, creating irregularity; it expresses chaos, tension, or emotional disturbance, and challenges the reader's sense of order.

Detailed Definition
Broken meter describes a rhythmic pattern that deliberately fractures or interrupts an established metrical norm through irregular stresses, omitted beats, or syncopated phrasing to convey psychological distress, social disruption, or formal rebellion; unlike free verse, which may lack a baseline meter, broken meter implies a prior order that has been shattered, making the disruption itself meaningful, as in war poetry or trauma narratives where rhythm mirrors fragmentation of self or world.
Example
Example in poetry:
Broken meter: Intentional disruption of regular meter for expressive effect—e.g., in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”: “April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land,” where iambic pentameter fractures to convey disorientation.
Additional Notes
Verse intentionally violating established metrical pattern. Related: metrical variation, sprung rhythm. Differs from free verse by implying underlying pattern. Creates emphasis, surprise, or mimetic effects through disruption.
Also Known As
Fractured meter disrupted rhythm shattered cadence interrupted meter Fractured prosody Interrupted rhythm
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