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Kleptic line

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 line of poetry that is borrowed or stolen from another source, often as homage

Detailed Definition
Kleptic line is a poetic line that “steals” or repurposes phrases, rhythms, or structures from other texts—through allusion, quotation, or pastiche—to create intertextual dialogue or critique; derived from “kleptomania,” it acknowledges poetry’s dialogic nature, as in Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” where borrowed fragments build a collage of cultural memory, making theft a mode of homage and transformation.
Example
Example in poetry:
Kleptic line: “Stolen from Rilke, reshaped by rain” (acknowledged theft); “This line belongs to Dickinson—now mine” (transformative); “Kleptic: borrowing to renew” (definitional); “Verse that wears others’ words as skin” (metaphorical)
Additional Notes
A stolen or found line incorporated into a poem. Modern term for appropriated text. Related to cento and collage techniques. Raises questions of originality and intertextuality. Compare with allusion.
Also Known As
stolen line allusive borrowing
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