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Editorial poem

Genre
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 that adopts the tone, structure, or argumentative stance of a newspaper editorial, blending poetic form with public commentary.

Detailed Definition
Editorial poem is a composition that incorporates or mimics the conventions of editorial intervention—such as footnotes, marginalia, redactions, or typographical corrections—to comment on textual authority, historical revision, or the politics of representation; this meta-poetic form exposes the constructed nature of narrative and invites readers to question whose voices are included, excluded, or altered, as in the archival poetics of M. NourbeSe Philip or erasure works like Zong!.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Muriel Rukeyser’s “The Book of the Dead,” editorial poem compiles testimonies of industrial disaster; In Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen,” editorial poem blends lyric, image, and essay; In Ocean Vuong’s “Time Is a Mother,” editorial poem weaves photographs, letters, and lyric; In Layli Long Soldier’s “Whereas,” editorial poem repurposes U.S. legislation; In Tracy K. Smith’s “Wade in the Water,” editorial poem compiles Civil War letters.
Additional Notes
Editorial poem incorporates commentary, footnotes, or meta-textual asides as part of the verse; blurs line between poem and critique—use to question authority or highlight revision process.
Also Known As
Commentary poem Revisionary verse Critical poem Altered text
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