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Cumulative property

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 characteristic in poetry where meaning or effect builds progressively through accumulation

Detailed Definition
Cumulative property in poetry describes the incremental buildup of meaning, emotion, or imagery through successive lines or stanzas that add layers without resolving tension; this technique, common in list poems or incantatory verse, relies on repetition and accretion to create a hypnotic or overwhelming effect, where the whole gradually exceeds the sum of its parts through persistent, additive force.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Whitman’s catalogs, each added line builds cumulative property: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, / And what I assume you shall assume”; In Ginsberg’s “Howl,” the accumulation of “who” clauses creates cumulative property; In the Psalms, “Bless the Lord, O my soul” gains power through cumulative property across verses; In Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” each stanza adds sensory detail, enhancing cumulative property.
Additional Notes
Cumulative property: Quality of building meaning cumulatively across lines or stanzas; each addition increases force or complexity.
Also Known As
Accumulated property Cumulative feature Gathered quality Colligative property
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