Hyper-extended five-foot

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

A five-foot line extended rhythmically to create emphasis or variation

Detailed Definition
Hyper-extended five-foot describes an iambic pentameter line that exceeds ten syllables through the addition of one or more unstressed syllables (feminine or triple endings), creating a lingering, expansive cadence; poets like Shakespeare (“To be, or not to be, that is the question”) use such lines to accommodate natural speech rhythms or heighten rhetorical emphasis without breaking metrical integrity, allowing flexibility within formal constraint.
Example
Example in poetry:
Five-foot iambic line extended with extra syllables/inversion; Pentameter lengthened beyond normal; Overextended verse line with varied stress; Stretched rhythm in five-foot meter.
Additional Notes
Hyper-extended five-foot exceeds standard iambic pentameter with multiple extra syllables. Related to overlong pentameter and metrical overflow. May signal emotional excess—read aloud to judge if extension enhances cadence or causes drag.
Also Known As
Stretched pentameter Hypermetrical five-foot Overextended pentameter Long-foot verse Hyperiambic pentameter
Skip to main content