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Centrifugal verse

Device
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

Poetry that employs imagery of outward-expanding motion or centrifugal force to convey dispersion or energy.

Detailed Definition
Centrifugal verse radiates outward from a central image or idea, using digression, fragmentation, or multiple perspectives to explore its peripheries; it rejects linear focus in favor of expansive, associative movement, as in the works of Walt Whitman or C.D. Wright.
Example
Example in poetry:
Centrifugal verse: Poems that reject closure, favoring dispersal: “Words fly like shrapnel—no return” (original); Language Poetry’s open fields (e.g., Charles Bernstein) exemplify centrifugal verse; Each line abandons the prior for new semantic terrain
Additional Notes
Poetry that moves meaning outward, dispersing rather than concentrating focus. Opposes centripetal verse's inward motion. Related to open-field poetics and expansive free verse techniques.
Also Known As
Outward-moving verse Dispersing poetry Center-fleeing verse Radiating-outward poetry outward verse
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