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Dilation

Device
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

The rhetorical or imagistic expansion of a central motif through elaboration, variation, or accumulation to deepen its emotional or thematic resonance.

Detailed Definition
Dilation in poetry denotes the expansion or stretching of time, syntax, or imagery to intensify emotional or perceptual experience; achieved through enjambment, caesura, or descriptive elaboration, dilation slows the reader’s pace, inviting deeper immersion in a moment, sensation, or idea.
Example
Example in poetry:
Dilation: In John Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale,” time dilates as the speaker drifts into a trance-like state, stretching a single moment into an eternal poetic meditation.
Additional Notes
Dilation: Expansion or stretching of time, space, or description in a poem; often used to intensify emotion or detail—e.g., slow-motion moments in epic similes or Romantic meditations.
Also Known As
Amplification Expansion Rhetorical elaboration Extended discourse
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