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Climactic rhyme

Rhyme
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 rhyme placed at a structural climax or key emotional high point

Detailed Definition
Climactic rhyme builds toward a final, emphatic rhyme that resolves a series of near-misses or slant rhymes, delivering sonic and emotional payoff; it structures tension and release within stanzas, often coinciding with thematic revelation or volta.
Example
Example in poetry:
Climactic rhyme appears in Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind”: “dead / lead / spread” building to “breed / speed / need”; In Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” rhymes escalate emotionally: “ear / near / hear”; Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” uses climactic rhyme: “Immortality / Civility / Eternity”; W.B. Yeats’ “Sailing to Byzantium” culminates in “artifice / gyre / fire”; Gwendolyn Brooks’ “The Mother” uses rhyme to intensify regret: “dim / him / whim”.
Additional Notes
Climactic rhyme places the most resonant or surprising rhyme at the end of a stanza or poem, maximizing emotional or intellectual payoff—often used in sonnet couplets or ballad conclusions.
Also Known As
Culminating rhyme peak sound climactic correspondence crescendo rhyme Zenithal rhyme
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