Home › Glossary › Letter F

Fragment cycle

Structure
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

A series of poetic fragments arranged together to form a larger whole

Detailed Definition
A fragment cycle is a poetic sequence composed of discrete, often incomplete textual units—fragments—that collectively imply a larger, unspoken narrative or thematic whole; inspired by Romantic and modernist aesthetics, it embraces incompleteness as a mode of meaning, inviting readers to reconstruct connections through associative logic.
Example
Example in poetry:
H.D.’s “Trilogy” weaves war fragments into spiritual quest; Susan Howe’s “Singularities” collages historical shards; Student example: “Five poems, each a broken vase; together, they hold water.”; Fragment cycles resist linear narrative
Additional Notes
Series of fragments forming larger work. Deliberate incompleteness. Related: fragment poem, sequence. Study: whether fragments suggest lost whole or are complete as fragments.
Also Known As
Fragment series Broken sequence Partial collection Incomplete cycle
Skip to main content