Home › Glossary › Letter E

Endophora

Device
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

The use of internal references—such as pronouns, repeated phrases, or motifs—that point back to earlier parts of the same poem for cohesion.

Detailed Definition
Endophora is the use of pronouns, demonstratives, or other referential words that point back (anaphora) or forward (cataphora) to elements within the same text, creating cohesion; in poetry, endophoric links weave intricate networks of reference, allowing dense allusiveness without explicit naming, as in modernist poems rich with implied antecedents.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “thou” refers back to the urn (endophora); Pronouns like “he” in narrative poems refer to previously named characters; Endophora creates cohesion in long poems like “The Waste Land”; In sonnets, “thy” often refers back to the beloved established in octave.
Additional Notes
Reference within text to another part of same text, creating internal connections. Linguistic term useful for analyzing long poems and sequences. Related to anaphora but emphasizes backward/forward reference. Study how internal cross-reference builds coherence.
Also Known As
Internal reference Textual pointing Self-reference
Skip to main content