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Infinitive poem

Form
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 poetic form in which each line begins with a verb in its infinitive form (e.g., "to run," "to dream"), creating a distinctive syntactic rhythm and thematic focus.

Detailed Definition
Infinitive poem: A poem structured around or dominated by infinitive verb forms (“to run,” “to remember”), evoking potentiality, aspiration, or unresolved action, often used to explore desire, command, or existential possibility.
Example
Example in poetry:
Infinitive poem: “To be, or not to be” centers existential infinitive; “To love, to err, to fall” lists life’s infinitive actions; Contemporary poems using “to [verb]” as line starters; “To breathe is to resist” politicizes infinitive; Eco-poetry: “To vanish, to persist, to adapt”; Infinitive phrases as minimalist poem titles framing action
Additional Notes
Poem structured around or built from infinitives. "To be or not to be..." Related: grammatical poetry, infinitive forms. Study: infinitive's timeless quality.
Also Known As
Infinitive-based poem To-be verse Verb-form poem Unconjugated verse
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