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Isocolon

Device
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 rhetorical figure using parallel clauses or phrases of identical length and structure to create balance, rhythm, and emphasis.

Explore this topic in depth (2)

Repetition in Poetry — Repetition is one of poetry’s most flexible ways of making language memorable. It can establish a beat, return us to an idea, sharpen an argument or make the same words mean differently each time they come back.

Free Verse — Free verse is not prose broken into short lines. It is verse that gives up a regular metrical pattern and predetermined rhyme scheme, while using lineation, cadence, syntax, repetition, sound and space to make deliberate form.

Detailed Definition
Isocolon: A rhetorical figure featuring parallel clauses or phrases of equal length and syntactic structure (e.g., “Veni, vidi, vici”), used in poetry to create rhythmic balance, emphasis, and memorable cadence through symmetry.
Example
Example in poetry:
Isocolon: “Veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered); “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”; “Easy come, easy go” balances parallel phrases; “Ask not what your country can do for you…”; “Blood, sweat, and tears” uses triple isocolon; Modern ads: “Faster, stronger, better” echo poetic isocolon
Additional Notes
Successive phrases or clauses of equal length and parallel structure. Creates rhythm through balanced syntax. Classical rhetorical device. In poetry, produces formal elegance. Compare with anaphora (word repetition).
Other Meanings of “Isocolon”
Also Known As
Parallel clauses balanced phrases structural parallelism equal members Parison Parallelism Balanced clauses
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