Home › Glossary › Letter F

Flowering

Device
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 elaboration or embellishment of a simple idea or image into richer expression

Detailed Definition
The poetic technique of expanding simple ideas or images into richer, more elaborate expression, suggesting organic growth and development rather than mechanical addition. True flowering involves natural-feeling elaboration where additional language deepens and enriches original meaning, as when Hopkins develops minimal observations into intricate celebrations of divine presence, or when plain statements blossom into complex metaphors that feel inevitable rather than forced or merely decorative.
Example
Example in poetry:
Flowering denotes poetic blossoming or organic growth: Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” celebrates daffodils; Neruda’s “Ode to the Tomato” praises natural abundance; Mary Oliver’s “Poppies” links floral beauty to transience; contemporary examples include Ross Gay’s “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude”; H.D.’s “Sea Rose” reimagines floral resilience.
Additional Notes
Suggests organic development rather than mechanical addition. Hopkins' "sprung rhythm" often creates flowering effect. Should feel natural and inevitable, not forced.
Also Known As
Elaboration Rhetorical expansion Stylistic growth Ornamental development Efflorescence Bloom
Skip to main content