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Internal drift

Structure
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 gradual, often subtle shift in thematic focus, tone, or perspective within a stanza or across a poem’s internal development.

Detailed Definition
Internal drift describes a subtle, gradual shift in tone, diction, or focus within a single poetic line or stanza that moves the reader from one emotional or conceptual state to another without abrupt transition; this technique relies on associative logic and sonic continuity to create a feeling of inevitable yet surprising evolution, as if thought itself is unfolding in real time.
Example
Example in poetry:
Internal drift appears in Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” where catalogs shift focus organically; In Ginsberg’s “Howl,” associative leaps create drift; In T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” fragments drift between voices; In contemporary poet Anne Carson’s “The Beauty of the Husband,” narrative drifts through memory; In Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen,” prose drifts between incident and reflection.
Additional Notes
Internal drift describes a poem’s subtle thematic or tonal shift beneath surface continuity; creates depth without rupture—use associative logic or image evolution to guide drift.
Also Known As
Internal movement Inner shift Subtle drift Within-line migration
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