Home › Glossary › Letter F

First-person speaker

Concept
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 narrative voice in a poem that uses “I” to convey personal experience or emotion

Explore this topic in depth (1)

Poetic Voice and the Speaker — A poem’s “I” is not automatically its author, and a poem can speak in more than one voice. This guide offers practical ways to identify the speaker, hear changes in tone and perspective, and base interpretations on the poem’s language and form.

Detailed Definition
A first-person speaker is the “I” who narrates or voices a poem, distinct from the author yet often embodying personal perspective, emotion, or experience; this persona creates immediacy and intimacy, allowing readers to engage directly with subjective consciousness within the poetic frame.
Example
Example in poetry:
“I wandered lonely as a cloud” (Wordsworth); “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” (Dickinson); “I, too, sing America” (Hughes); “I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow” (Roethke)
Additional Notes
First-person speaker: A narrative voice using “I” to convey personal experience or emotion; distinct from the poet but often conflated in lyric poetry; key to understanding personal verse (10092).
Also Known As
Lyrical “I” Poetic persona Subjective voice Personal narrator Lyric I
Skip to main content