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Conversational poetry

Genre
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

Poetry that prioritizes the rhythms, diction, and syntax of everyday conversation

Detailed Definition
Conversational poetry employs the rhythms, diction, and syntax of informal speech to create an accessible, intimate, and immediate tone, often blurring the line between poetry and prose; it emerged prominently in mid-20th-century American poetry (e.g., Frank O’Hara, Denise Levertov) as a reaction against academic formalism.
Example
Example in poetry:
Frank O’Hara’s “Lunch Poems” mimic chatting with friends over coffee; Billy Collins’s “Forgetfulness” addresses the reader conversationally about memory loss; Tracy K. Smith’s “The United States Welcomes You” uses bureaucratic dialogue to critique policy; Danez Smith’s “not an elegy for Mike Brown” speaks directly to the reader in urgent, colloquial tones.
Additional Notes
Conversational poetry adopts the rhythms, diction, and tone of everyday talk; aims for immediacy and relatability—key figures include Frank O’Hara and the New York School.
Also Known As
Talk-poem informal lyric everyday verse speech-based poetry conversational verse dialogic Dialogic poetry Colloquial verse
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