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cento variant

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 modified form of the cento, using lines from multiple sources in a new arrangement

Detailed Definition
Cento variant is a poetic composition formed entirely from lines or phrases borrowed from other poets, rearranged to create a new work with altered meaning or perspective; unlike a strict cento, a variant may include slight modifications, juxtapositions, or thematic reorientations, serving as both homage and critique, often used in feminist or postcolonial reworkings of canonical texts.
Example
Example in poetry:
Caroline Bergvall’s “After Dante” reassembles lines from multiple translations; Mary Jo Bang’s The Bride of E uses borrowed phrases from pop culture and classics; A poem made from lines by Dickinson, Plath, and Rich on motherhood; David Antin’s “talk poems” weave quoted fragments into new narratives
Additional Notes
A cento variant is a poem composed entirely of lines borrowed from other poets, rearranged to create new meaning; variants may alter syntax, context, or juxtaposition to critique or homage source texts.
Also Known As
Mosaic poem patchwork verse collaged lyric recombinant cento Kleptopoem
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