Home › Glossary › Letter I

inlets

Noun
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

Narrow strips or arms of water reaching inland from a coastline; imagery commonly used in maritime and nature poetry to evoke shelter.

Detailed Definition
An inlet is a small bay, creek, or channel of water that reaches inland from the sea. Clough uses the word in a coastal image of waves advancing quietly and steadily.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Far back, through creeks and inlets making” maps narrow passages where water enters the land; “The tide filled the inlets with silver light” uses coastal landscape imagery; “Among the mangrove inlets, her boat moved quietly” gives the noun a precise ecological setting; “Memory has inlets no map can sound” metaphorically makes the mind a shoreline
Additional Notes
“Inlets” is a somewhat specialized geographical word that may be unfamiliar to some readers in this poetic context.; Found in the poem, Say not the Struggle Nought Availeth by Arthur Hugh Clough
Also Known As
waterways estuaries channels coastal inlets
Skip to main content