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Conversio

Concept
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 thematic or tonal turn within a poem indicating conversion or reversal.

Detailed Definition
Conversio is a rhetorical figure involving the reversal of word order in successive clauses for emphasis or balance (a form of chiasmus); in poetry, conversio creates symmetrical phrasing that underscores contrast or unity, as in “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country” (adapted into poetic contexts), where inverted syntax heightens ethical or emotional stakes through structural mirroring.
Example
Example in poetry:
Rhetorical reversal: “Ask not what your country can do for you…”; Shakespeare’s “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more”; Ovid’s “I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me”; Modern: Claudia Rankine’s reversals of racial gaze
Additional Notes
Ending clauses with same word (epistrophe). Classical rhetoric in verse. Related to anaphora (beginning repetition). Tip: Track repeated end-words for cumulative emotional effect.
Also Known As
conversion volta-like turn
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