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echo couplet

Form
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

Two lines constructed to mirror each other metrical or phonetically

Detailed Definition
An echo couplet is a poetic pair of lines in which the second line repeats or subtly alters the final word or phrase of the first, mimicking an acoustic echo to create emphasis, irony, or emotional resonance; this device often underscores doubt, longing, or existential questioning, as seen in Thomas Wyatt’s “They flee from me” where echoes dramatize psychological reverberation.
Example
Example in poetry:
Echo couplet ends the second line with a word that repeats or echoes the first line’s end: Alexander Pope: “Heav’n’s Sovereign saves the good from future ill, / And shows the good—prevents it—by His Will”; John Dryden used echoes for witty emphasis; Contemporary example: “She said she’d stay— / But stay she did not”; In nursery rhymes: “Jack and Jill went up the hill, / Up the hill they went”; Such couplets create sonic reinforcement and ironic twist; They highlight absence through repetition.
Additional Notes
A couplet (two successive lines) where the second line repeats or closely echoes a word, phrase, or rhythmic pattern from the first line, often for emphasis or as a subtle structural connection; a form of anadiplosis applied to lines.
Also Known As
Couplet of echo Reflective couplet Sound-returning couplet Refrain couplet Call-response couplet call-response distich
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