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clipped dimeter

Meter
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 two-foot line with shortened or truncated syllables, creating a brisk or abrupt rhythmic effect

Detailed Definition
Clipped dimeter is a two-foot metrical line deliberately shortened or truncated, often omitting unstressed syllables to create abruptness, urgency, or emphasis. Common in modernist and imagist poetry, this compressed form heightens intensity by stripping away ornamentation, focusing the reader’s attention on stark imagery, emotional immediacy, or rhythmic punch within minimal syllabic space.
Example
Example in poetry:
Emily Dickinson’s dimeters: "I taste a liquor never brewed—" (clipped to 2 strong beats); "Hope is the thing with feathers—" uses clipped dimeter in some readings; Nursery rhyme: "Jack and Jill / Went up the hill"—two-beat lines; Haiku-like clipped dimeter: "Moon glows cold / Over still pond"
Additional Notes
Clipped dimeter is a two-foot line with truncated or irregular stresses, often used for abruptness or urgency; common in nursery rhymes and modernist fragments—students should note how its brevity creates tension against longer lines; useful in creating rhythmic contrast within a poem’s prosody.
Also Known As
truncated dimeter shortened two-beat line minimal dimeter compressed dimeter Short-long-long-short dimeter Shortened binary meter
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