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Line extension

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 technique adding extra syllables or feet to a line beyond its formal metrical scheme

Detailed Definition
A technique in verse where a line is intentionally extended beyond its expected metrical length or rhythmic norm, often through additional syllables, phrases, or clauses, to create emphasis, heighten drama, or alter pacing; line extension may push imagery forward or delay resolution, lending to a sense of overflow and contributing to tonal or thematic effects, as seen when a poet deliberately breaks metrical regularity to mirror emotional urgency.
Example
Example in poetry:
Longfellow’s “Evangeline” uses line extension: “This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks”; Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” extends lines with feminine endings for emotional swell; Contemporary poet Alice Oswald’s “Memorial” uses line extension to accommodate Homeric cataloging; Anne Carson’s “Autobiography of Red” extends lines to merge prose and poetry; Derek Walcott’s “Omeros” uses Caribbean-inflected line extensions; A.E. Stallings extends lines in “Hapax Legomenon” for classical resonance.
Additional Notes
Line extension deliberately lengthens a line beyond an established visual, metrical, or syntactic norm. The extra duration can create breathlessness, overflow, emphasis, narrative expansion, or emotional pressure before a return to shorter lines. Compare enjambment, caesura, and variation in meter. Study hint: scan or count neighboring lines first; extension has its strongest effect when readers can feel the pattern being exceeded.
Also Known As
Metrical elongation Line augmentation Verse extension Extended line form Hypermetric expansion
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