Home › Glossary › Letter F

Forensic poetry

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

Poetry that adopts an investigative stance, reconstructing or interrogating historical events through evidentiary detail and rhetorical inquiry.

Detailed Definition
Forensic poetry employs rhetorical strategies of legal argument—such as evidence, testimony, cross-examination, or summation—to investigate truth, assign blame, or seek justice; it appears in political, confessional, or documentary verse where poetic form serves as a courtroom for moral or historical inquiry.
Example
Example in poetry:
Forensic poetry: Audre Lorde’s “A Litany for Survival” functions as forensic poetry—bearing witness to injustice and demanding accountability through lyrical testimony.
Additional Notes
Forensic poetry: Poetry that investigates, bears witness, or argues a case—often used in documentary, political, or testimonial modes (e.g., Carolyn Forché’s “poetry of witness”).
Also Known As
Oratorical verse Argumentative poetry Rhetorical composition Deliberative verse Judicial poetry Rhetorical verse
Skip to main content