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Circular speaker

Concept
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 poetic voice that returns repeatedly to the same perspective, phrase, or idea

Detailed Definition
A circular speaker is a poetic persona or narrative voice that returns repeatedly to the same thematic concern, image, or emotional state without linear progression, creating a cyclical rather than developmental arc; this technique mirrors psychological fixation, ritual repetition, or eternal return motifs, as in Sylvia Plath’s confessional loops or T.S. Eliot’s meditative returns in Four Quartets.
Example
Example in poetry:
In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the speaker addresses an ambiguous “you” who may be himself; A poem where the narrator shifts between “I,” “you,” and “we” without clear distinction, as in some of Rilke’s Duino Elegies; A dramatic monologue where the speaker’s identity blurs with the listener’s, like in Browning’s “My Last Duchess”; A lyric where the speaker claims “I am you and you are me,” dissolving individual boundaries.
Additional Notes
A circular speaker blurs identity between narrator, addressee, and reader, often using ambiguous pronouns; it challenges linear subjectivity—seen in dramatic monologues and postmodern lyric poetry.
Also Known As
Recursive speaker Looping voice Self-reflexive narrator Circular persona Circular voice Revolving speaker
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