Home › Glossary › Letter E

Exclamatory Verse

Genre
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

Verse characterized by the frequent use of exclamations and interjections to convey high emotion or excitement.

Detailed Definition
Exclamatory Verse uses heightened punctuation, interjections, and emphatic syntax to convey intense emotion—wonder, outrage, joy—through direct, urgent address; it breaks from measured tone to embody spontaneous feeling or prophetic outcry.
Example
Example in poetry:
Psalms like “O Lord, how many are my foes!” use exclamatory verse; Shakespeare’s “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”; Emily Dickinson’s “Wild Nights—Wild Nights!”; Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through!”; Lucille Clifton’s “why some people be mad at me sometimes” uses childlike exclamation; Warsan Shire’s “no one leaves home unless” uses urgent exclamation.
Additional Notes
Exclamatory Verse uses frequent exclamation marks or emphatic phrasing to convey strong emotion, urgency, or dramatic intensity; it risks melodrama but can effectively channel passion or protest.
Also Known As
Exclamation verse Outcry poetry Declarative verse
Skip to main content