Home › Glossary › Letter I

intensification

Device
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

The deliberate increase in emotional force, emphasis, or dramatic power.

Detailed Definition
The progressive building of dramatic, emotional, or rhetorical force through a poem, creating mounting tension or escalating impact. Can be achieved through repetition with variation, accumulative catalogues, increasing stakes in narrative, or escalating imagery. Related to rising action in dramatic structure. Whitman's catalogues demonstrate intensification through accumulation as lists grow longer and more encompassing. Effective intensification requires control of pacing and restraint in deployment, saving maximum force for climactic moments where breakthrough or transformation occurs.
Example
Example in poetry:
Building emotional or dramatic intensity progressively; Rising action in narrative poems; Accumulating force through repetition or accumulation; Poems that build toward climactic moments
Additional Notes
Building dramatic or emotional force progressively through a poem. Can use repetition, accumulation, or escalating imagery. Related to rising action in narrative. Whitman's catalogue technique creates intensification through accumulation. Important in poems building toward climactic revelation or emotional peak.
Also Known As
climactic build dramatic escalation accumulative force progressive amplification Epitasis
Skip to main content