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Irregular-foot verse

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

Verse employing metrical feet that shift unpredictably in type or length, disrupting regular rhythm for expressive purposes.

Detailed Definition
Irregular-foot verse comprises lines built from inconsistent metrical feet, chosen for tonal variation or thematic dissonance rather than strict rhythmic conformity.
Example
Example in poetry:
Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “The Windhover” uses irregular-foot verse with sprung rhythm; Emily Dickinson’s lines mix iambic, trochaic, and catalectic feet unpredictably; Contemporary poet Kay Ryan uses irregular-foot verse for witty compression; Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” alternates between regular and jarring metrical feet to convey trauma; Walt Whitman’s long lines defy classical feet with organic cadence; A.E. Stallings blends classical and irregular feet in “Hapax Legomenon” for tension.
Additional Notes
Irregular-foot verse|form|Mixing varying foot counts for unpredictable yet controlled rhythm. Related to free verse; tip: read multiple drafts aloud for natural flow; test listener response.
Also Known As
Variable-foot verse Uneven meter Irregular scansion Heterometric stanza
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