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Isobaric line

Meter
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 line whose stresses are evenly balanced, producing a sense of equilibrium in metrical weight.

Detailed Definition
An isobaric line is a poetic line possessing equal metrical weight or stress count as adjacent lines, ensuring rhythmic uniformity within a stanza; the term emphasizes prosodic balance rather than syllable count, focusing on the perceptual equivalence of metrical “pressure.”
Example
Example in poetry:
Isobaric line: equal weight or stress count; “Four strong beats per line, no more”; In Old English: four stresses per line; Modern approximation: “Stone walls do not a prison make” – four stresses; Ensures metrical consistency; not syllable-count but stress-based.
Additional Notes
Line maintaining constant pressure or weight throughout. Metrical term emphasizing equivalence of stress. Related to equipollent meter; study with accentual-syllabic verse.
Also Known As
balanced line equal-stress line
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