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Comma

Notation
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 punctuation mark (,) indicating a brief pause or syntactic separation in poetic lines.

Detailed Definition
The comma regulates breath, pace, and syntactic clarity in poetry; it can create enjambment, delay resolution, or isolate imagery for emphasis, playing a crucial role in shaping rhythm, tone, and the reader’s interpretive experience of the verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
Commas create caesuras: “Come, my love, and sit”; Dickinson’s commas build syntactic suspense; In Whitman, commas list democratic elements: “carpenters, masons, boatmen”; Commas delay resolution: “Wait, breathe, then speak”; In modern verse, commas fragment thought: “Alone, cold, forgotten”; Commas replace “and” for rhythm: “stars, moon, sea”.
Additional Notes
Comma: The comma (,) is fundamental to poetic rhythm, marking brief pauses that shape breath, syntax, and emphasis; its strategic placement can alter scansion, create caesurae, or subvert expected meter—study its use in free verse versus formal prosody to understand its expressive range.
Also Known As
brief pause list separator breathing mark
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