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Kairotic Image

Philosophy
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

An image whose force depends on arriving at a decisive or opportune moment.

Detailed Definition
A kairotic image does more than represent an object; it changes what can be perceived or said at a particular instant. In a poem, a sudden image may gather earlier tensions and make a choice, revelation, or reversal possible. Its significance arises from timing rather than permanence. The concept helps distinguish an image that is merely vivid from one that alters the poem's temporal logic, making the reader feel that meaning has appeared at exactly the necessary moment.
Example
Example in poetry:
A kairotic image is an image whose force depends on arriving at the decisive or opportune moment; A poem about a dying tree may withhold the image of green leaves until the speaker is ready to recognize loss; In a sonnet, the image at the volta can become kairotic because it appears exactly when the argument changes direction; A single ringing phone in a poem about silence may gain kairotic power from its placement at the moment of revelation
Additional Notes
A kairotic image gains meaning from appearing at the right or decisive moment, rather than merely from what it depicts. It may crystallize a poem’s turning point or respond precisely to a historical situation. The term relates to kairos, the opportune moment, in contrast with chronos, ordinary sequential time.
Also Known As
Timely Image Kairotic Vision Momentous Picture
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