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cement

Craft Terms
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

Cement means to bind or fix things firmly together; in poetry, it can suggest the strengthening of connections, themes, or emotions within a work.

Detailed Definition
Literally, cement is a binding material used in construction. In poetry, it may be used metaphorically to describe what holds a poem’s parts in place or gives permanence to a relationship or idea. It appears in craft terminology because it evokes solidity, adhesion, and lasting form.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poet may use cement as a metaphor for something rigid and unchangeable, such as inherited belief; Urban poets often use cement imagery to evoke the harshness of city landscapes contrasted with nature; A poem about relationships might describe love that cements two people together permanently; Cementing a foundation can symbolize the establishment of identity or homeland in immigrant poetry; A poet could use cracked cement as an image of decay within seemingly solid institutions; In elegy, cement might represent the finality of a gravestone or memorial.
Additional Notes
Cement functions similarly to bind and fuse in craft discussions, but carries a more industrial and permanent connotation, often associated with modernity, urban landscapes, and irreversible change; poets use cementing imagery to suggest finality, whether in solidifying a relationship, a belief, or a memory, and the term can be productively contrasted with more organic binding metaphors like weaving or braiding, which suggest a more delicate or reversible connection; instructors might explore how cement's association with urban infrastructure makes it a natural metaphor in poems critiquing modern alienation or industrialization.
Also Known As
glue mortar bond adhere concrete
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