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Echo poem

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

A poem where the final syllables of lines are repeated as responses

Detailed Definition
An Echo poem features a structural or thematic repetition where later lines or stanzas respond to earlier ones as if in auditory or mnemonic echo, creating a palimpsest of sound and meaning; this form explores memory, loss, and resonance, as in Thomas Hardy’s “The Voice” or the recursive elegies of contemporary poets who use echo to signify absence and the persistence of the past.
Example
Example in poetry:
Poem with literal echoes: “Hello… ello… llo…”; Classical: Ovid’s Echo and Narcissus; Modern: sound poetry using repetition; Example: bpNichol’s “The True Eventual Story of Billy the Kid”
Additional Notes
A poem where ending words or sounds repeat as if bouncing back, mimicking acoustic echoes. Often creates voice-and-response effects. Related to echoic verse and echo rhyme. Study Herbert's "Heaven" for clever echo effects combining wordplay.
Also Known As
Echo verse Repetitive-ending poem Reverberation verse mirror poem
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