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Crux

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 passage in a poem that is obscure, ambiguous, or textually problematic, often requiring scholarly interpretation.

Detailed Definition
Crux denotes a textual passage in a poem that is obscure, corrupted, or disputed due to manuscript errors, ambiguous syntax, or lost context; resolving a crux often requires scholarly conjecture, comparative analysis, or historical knowledge, and it can significantly affect interpretation, especially in classical or medieval poetry.
Example
Example in poetry:
Crux: Textual difficulty: Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” crux—what “sleep” means; In poetry: Dickinson’s “zero at the bone” crux—what causes it?; Editorial note: “[Crux: word illegible in manuscript]”
Additional Notes
Crux marks interpretive puzzle or textual problem in poem. Latin for "cross"—a point of difficulty. Important in textual criticism. Editors often discuss cruxes in scholarly editions.
Also Known As
Textual crux interpretive problem
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