Home › Glossary › Letter E

eternal phrase

Phrase
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

Language suggesting timelessness, immortality, or unchanging truth

Detailed Definition
Eternal phrases counteract transience with assertions of permanence—through love, art, or divine promise; their cadence often slows, their diction solidifies, as poetry stakes its claim against oblivion.
Example
Example in poetry:
Eternal phrase: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End”; the stars burn with an eternal phrase written in light; the sea murmurs an eternal phrase older than memory; the wind carries an eternal phrase no tongue has named.
Additional Notes
Eternal phrases suggest timelessness: “I am the Alpha and the Omega”; they transcend historical context, often invoking divine, cosmic, or cyclical truths; used by Blake, Dickinson, and contemporary spiritual poets; avoid grandiosity—ground in concrete imagery: “the tide that never forgets”; related to eternal phrase, crystalline phrase, and heavenly phrase; powerful when contrasted with dying or fading phrases.
Also Known As
timeless phrase eternal expression unchanging phrase
Skip to main content