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Definitional Couplet

Structure
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 couplet where the first line poses a question or introduces a concept, and the second line provides a concise, often surprising, answer or definition.

Detailed Definition
Definitional Couplet is a two-line stanza that succinctly defines or encapsulates a concept, often using parallel structure or antithesis to clarify meaning; common in didactic or epigrammatic poetry, it distills complex ideas into memorable, aphoristic form.
Example
Example in poetry:
Definitional Couplet: "A sonnet is a fourteen-line embrace, / With measured beats and rhymes in ordered space."—a rhyming couplet that defines a poetic form within its lines.
Additional Notes
Definitional Couplet uses two rhyming lines to define or encapsulate a concept, often aphoristically; effective for philosophical or moral statements, it echoes the epigrammatic tradition while offering concise poetic insight.
Also Known As
Defining couplet Explanatory couplet Clarifying distich
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