Home › Glossary › Letter I

Iconic rhyme

Sound
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

Rhyme that mimics or echoes the sound, action, or meaning of its referent (e.g., “hiss” rhyming with “miss” to suggest sound symbolism).

Detailed Definition
Iconic rhyme occurs when the rhyming words not only sound alike but also share visual, conceptual, or symbolic resonance that reinforces the poem’s theme—e.g., “light” and “bright” in a poem about illumination—making the sonic coincidence meaningfully congruent with content.
Example
Example in poetry:
Iconic rhyme: “Moon” rhyming with “June” evokes romantic cliché iconically; Slant rhymes like “stone/home” iconically suggest dissonance; Nursery rhymes using iconic “cat/hat” pairs for memorability; Hip-hop’s internal rhymes iconically marking cultural identity; “Blood/flood” rhymes iconically linking violence and overflow; Eco-poetry using “tree/sea” to iconically connect land and water
Additional Notes
Iconic rhyme: Rhyme that reinforces or mirrors the poem’s theme or imagery (e.g., rhyming “light” and “night” in a poem about duality); goes beyond sonic pleasure to deepen conceptual resonance.
Also Known As
Symbolic rhyme Representative echo Emblematic correspondence Sign-based sound
Skip to main content