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Gestural poetics

Concept
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 performative approach to poetry where physical gestures, movements, or bodily expression are integral to the poem’s meaning and delivery.

Detailed Definition
Gestural poetics emphasizes the physicality of poetic performance and composition—the hand’s movement in writing, breath in recitation, or body in space—as integral to meaning; it treats the poem as an embodied act rather than a static text, foregrounding presence, spontaneity, and kinetic energy.
Example
Example in poetry:
Gestural poetics: Charles Olson’s "Projective Verse," where line breaks and spacing mimic bodily movement and breath: "ONE perception must immediately and directly lead to a further perception."
Additional Notes
Poetry emphasizing bodily movement, performance, physical expression. Body as text. Related: performance poetry, embodied poetics. Study: how gesture translates to/from written text.
Also Known As
Body poetics Physical aesthetics Somatic verse Embodied composition
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