Home › Glossary › Letter F

Facial Expression

Performance
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 the face to communicate emotional and rhetorical shifts. It can reinforce or complicate the words being spoken.

Detailed Definition
Facial expression gives audiences visual access to a performer’s changing relationship with a poem. A restrained expression may preserve ambiguity, while a fleeting smile, tightened jaw, or widened eyes can underline irony, fear, delight, or disbelief. In intimate venues and recorded readings, these small movements may carry considerable force. Effective facial expression does not simply duplicate the poem’s stated emotion; it can reveal tension between what the speaker says and what the speaker feels.
Example
Example in poetry:
A performer reading a humorous poem lets a small smile appear only at the punch line, rather than smiling throughout the whole piece; In a poem about betrayal, the reader's tightened jaw and briefly averted eyes can communicate hurt without exaggerated gestures; While performing a child speaker's poem of wonder, a poet uses widened eyes as the speaker notices a first snowfall; A reader of Sylvia Plath's "Mirror" might maintain a calm, impassive expression to support the poem's detached speaking voice
Additional Notes
Facial expression can reveal a speaker’s attitude, irony, vulnerability, or change of thought. Keep expressions connected to the words and avoid exaggeration unless the poem’s style calls for it.
Also Known As
Facial Gesture Facial Affect
Skip to main content