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Cento sonnet

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 sonnet composed exclusively of lines taken from other poets’ works, maintaining sonnet structure while creating intertextual meaning.

Detailed Definition
A Cento sonnet is a 14-line poem composed entirely of lines borrowed from other poets’ works, rearranged to form a new, coherent statement; this mosaic form, dating to antiquity (Homerocentones), tests the poet’s curatorial skill and intertextual awareness, creating dialogues across time—as in David Lehman’s centos or Annie Dillard’s “The Writing Life”—while raising questions about originality and authorship.
Example
Example in poetry:
A cento sonnet is composed entirely of lines from other poets; example: David Lehman’s “Cento: The Art of Love” stitching together lines from Auden, Bishop, and Plath.
Additional Notes
Fourteen-line poem constructed entirely from lines borrowed from other sonnets. Difficult constraint requiring source sonnets in same meter. Combines cento tradition with sonnet form's rigid structure.
Also Known As
Patchwork sonnet collage fourteen-liner composite sonnet assembled sonnet
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