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Halted rhyme

Rhyme
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 rhyme that begins conventionally but breaks off abruptly or fails to resolve fully, creating dissonance or thematic interruption.

Detailed Definition
Halted rhyme occurs when a rhyme is deliberately interrupted, deferred, or left incomplete—either through enjambment, syntactic disruption, or phonetic near-miss—creating tension or suspense; this technique subverts expectations of sonic closure, often reflecting thematic uncertainty or emotional hesitation, as when a line ending in “light” is followed not by a perfect rhyme but by a slant rhyme like “fight” several lines later.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Emily Dickinson, halted rhyme appears through slant rhyme: “Because I could not stop for Death – / He kindly stopped for me –”; In Gerard Manley Hopkins, halted rhyme via sprung rhythm: “I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-”; In Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” halted rhyme intensifies rage: “I’m finally through”; In Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool,” halted rhyme closes with fatalism: “We / Die soon”; In Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong,” halted rhyme whispers self-love; In Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen,” halted rhyme documents racial dissonance.
Additional Notes
A rhyme that stops abruptly or is followed immediately by a metrical pause, preventing the flow from smoothly transitioning to the next line; creates a jarring or emphatic effect; relates to end-stopped line.
Also Known As
stalled rhyme broken rhyme interrupted rhyme faltering rhyme Arrested rhyme Stopped rhyme
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