Home › Glossary › Letter E

Erotesis

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

A rhetorical question posed for effect rather than answer, used to provoke thought, emphasize emotion, or assert implied truth.

Detailed Definition
Erotesis is a rhetorical question posed not for an answer but to assert a point emphatically or provoke thought; in poetry, it heightens emotion, creates dramatic tension, or invites the reader into the speaker’s internal dialogue.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Shakespeare); “Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?” (Marlowe); Rhetorical questions drive sonnets and odes; Modern example: “Who will speak for the rivers?” in eco-poetry.
Additional Notes
Rhetorical question for emphasis, not answer. "Who knows?" when answer is "no one/everyone." Related: rhetorical question, interrogatio. Study: how it directs reader response.
Also Known As
Rhetorical question Interrogative device Question figure Posed inquiry
Skip to main content