Home › Glossary › Letter D

Denouement

Concept
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

The final section of a narrative poem where conflicts resolve, loose ends tie up, and emotional or thematic equilibrium is restored.

Detailed Definition
Denouement in poetry refers to the resolution or clarifying conclusion of a narrative or emotional arc, where tensions are released and thematic implications crystallize; unlike in prose, poetic denouements are often implied through image, tone, or symbolic gesture rather than explicit exposition, offering a quiet yet resonant sense of closure.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” the denouement occurs when the Mariner is absolved and resumes his penitent wandering; In Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover,” the denouement is the calm declaration “And yet God has not said a word!” after the murder; In Plath’s “Daddy,” the denouement is the speaker’s final act of symbolic liberation: “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through”; In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129, the denouement resolves the fury of lust with the resigned couplet: “All this the world well knows; yet none knows well / To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.”
Additional Notes
Denouement in poetry is the resolution or clarification that follows emotional or narrative climax; may be explicit (as in narrative poems) or implied (as in lyric); differs from volta by occurring at the poem’s close rather than mid-point.
Other Meanings of “Denouement”
Also Known As
Resolution conclusion aftermath poetic closure
Skip to main content