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Composite speaker

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 poetic persona constructed from multiple distinct voices, identities, or perspectives; it resists a singular "I" and creates polyphonic, fragmented, or dialogic selfhood within a single poem.

Detailed Definition
A composite speaker is a poetic persona synthesized from multiple voices, identities, or historical positions, functioning as a hybrid consciousness; this technique challenges notions of stable subjectivity by presenting the “I” as a site of convergence, contradiction, and cultural layering.
Example
Example in poetry:
Composite speaker: A narrator blending multiple identities—e.g., in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Eliot’s speaker merges neurotic modern man, Hamlet, and Lazarus into one voice.
Additional Notes
Composite speaker blends personal and collective voices (e.g., “we” that includes poet and reader); useful for political or communal poetry.
Also Known As
Multiple speaker combined voice composite persona hybrid narrator
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