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Chimeric metaphor

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

A metaphor combining incompatible elements to create an impossible hybrid

Detailed Definition
A chimeric metaphor fuses disparate, often incongruous elements into a single hybrid image—like a lion-goat-serpent—to express psychological complexity, surreal vision, or cultural hybridity; it thrives in postmodern and mythopoetic poetry as a symbol of unstable identity.
Example
Example in poetry:
Chimeric metaphor fuses unlike domains: “The city is a coral reef of steel” (hypothetical); in Sylvia Plath’s “Metaphors,” pregnancy becomes “a melon strolling on two tendrils”; contemporary poets use chimeric metaphor for AI (“my phone is a jealous lover”); the device appears in scientific and ecological poetry; chimeric metaphor generates startling cognitive links
Additional Notes
Chimeric metaphor fuses disparate, often fantastical elements into a single image (e.g., “a clock with wings”); it evokes surreal or dreamlike states and challenges logical categorization.
Also Known As
Hybrid metaphor impossible comparison chimeric figure fantastical imagery
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