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circling

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 rhetorical or structural technique where a theme, image, or phrase is revisited repeatedly from varying angles, never fully resolving.

Detailed Definition
Circling in poetry denotes a structural or rhetorical return to an initial image, phrase, or idea at the poem’s conclusion, creating a closed loop that emphasizes cyclical time, unresolved tension, or meditative recurrence; this technique fosters unity and introspection, often leaving the reader with a sense of eternal recurrence rather than resolution.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem circling back to first image (“round we go, to where we began”); Narrative circling from event to the same closing; Stanzas looping repeatedly to one metaphor; Symbolic cycle poems like Eliot’s return to the beginning.
Additional Notes
circling|A structural technique where the poem begins and ends with the same or similar lines, images, or themes, bringing the poem back to its starting point; related to Circular Verse.
Also Known As
encircling revolving motion spiral motif circular movement Circumambulation
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