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Emotional pause

Sound
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 pause in poetic rhythm that signals emotional emphasis or hesitation

Detailed Definition
An emotional pause is a deliberate break—marked by punctuation, lineation, or white space—that allows feeling to accumulate or resonate before the poem continues; unlike grammatical pauses, it serves psychological rhythm, giving readers time to absorb grief, awe, or revelation embedded in the preceding words.
Example
Example in poetry:
Pause in John Ashbery’s poem “Our Youth” to add emotional weight; The use of caesura in “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe to create dramatic pause; Sylvia Plath’s pauses to heighten suspense or feeling break; Breath pause at line endings in Shakespearean sonnets to emphasize emotional shifts.
Additional Notes
A break or caesura in a line or stanza, often indicated by punctuation, that coincides with a moment of strong feeling or psychological shift in the poem; directs the reader's attention to an emotional high point.
Also Known As
Pause of emotion Feeling hesitation Affective break Sentiment pause Affective caesura Affective rest
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