Home › Glossary › Letter H

Headless rising line

Meter
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

An iambic line lacking its initial unstressed syllable, beginning directly with a stressed syllable

Detailed Definition
A headless rising line is synonymous with an acephalous line in iambic meter, where the initial unstressed syllable is omitted, causing the line to begin with a stressed syllable; this metrical variation creates rhythmic emphasis and dramatic effect, commonly used in English blank verse to avoid monotony and highlight key words, as in many of Shakespeare’s soliloquies.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Break, break, break” (Tennyson) begins with a stressed syllable, omitting the initial unstressed beat; “Out of the night…” (Henley) starts with a strong stress, creating a headless iambic line; “Stop all the clocks” (Auden) opens emphatically without a lead-in weak syllable; “Hark! Hark! The lark” (Shakespeare) launches with immediate stress.
Additional Notes
Headless rising line is synonymous with acephalous iambic line—missing the initial unstressed syllable—creating a strong opening stress; frequently used for emphasis or variation in iambic pentameter.
Also Known As
Acephalous rising line headless iamb initial-stress line truncated iambic start Iambic trimeter catalectic
Skip to main content