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Ergodic poetry

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

Interactive poetry requiring unusual effort to navigate, such as non-linear page layouts

Detailed Definition
Ergodic poetry requires nontrivial effort to traverse—through navigation, decryption, or physical interaction—beyond normal reading; inspired by Espen Aarseth’s concept, it includes concrete poetry, hypertext, and puzzle-like forms that foreground reader labor as part of meaning-making.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ergodic poetry requires nontrivial effort to traverse, like bpNichol’s “The Alphabet”; Digital poems with hyperlinks or code; Jackson Mac Low’s chance operations create ergodic reading paths; Ergodic poetry challenges passive consumption.
Additional Notes
Poetry requiring reader's active navigation or construction. Interactive, non-linear. Reader choices affect meaning/sequence. Related: digital poetry, hypertext, aleatory verse. Experimental form.
Also Known As
Interactive poetry Participatory verse Reader-determined poem Variable text poetry
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