Fictive dialogue

Device
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

A poetic device in which characters engage in invented conversation, advancing narrative or revealing inner thought through speech.

Detailed Definition
Fictive dialogue is imagined conversation between characters, historical figures, or abstract entities invented by the poet rather than recorded from actual speech. This device allows poets to explore ideas, relationships, or historical moments through constructed exchange that serves thematic or dramatic purposes.
Example
Example in poetry:
Dialogue with absent, dead, or imaginary figures; Apostrophe creating conversation with non-present addressee; Keats addressing the Grecian Urn; Poems speaking to abstract concepts
Additional Notes
A conversation that exists only in the poet's imagination, often addressing an absent person, historical figure, or hypothetical interlocutor.
Also Known As
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