Home › Glossary › Letter E

Embodied poetry

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

Poetry that emphasizes the body, gesture, voice, and performance as integral to meaning.

Detailed Definition
Embodied poetry foregrounds the lived, physical reality of the speaker or subject, using visceral imagery, sensory detail, and corporeal metaphors to explore identity, trauma, desire, or existence; it resists abstraction by anchoring meaning in the flesh, making the body both medium and message in the poetic act.
Example
Example in poetry:
Lucille Clifton’s “blessing the boats” — short lines mirroring breath and heartbeat; Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Facing It” — Vietnam Memorial reflection grounded in physical presence; Tracy K. Smith’s “The United States Welcomes You” — body as site of political tension; Danez Smith’s “not an elegy for Mike Brown” — black body as central poetic subject.
Additional Notes
Embodied poetry foregrounds the speaker’s physical presence; often confessional or somatic. Contrast with abstract lyric—note sensory diction and rhythm.
Also Known As
Somatic lyric corporeal verse flesh poetry body-as-text bodily verse Gestural
Skip to main content