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Logopoeia

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

Ezra Pound’s term for the “dance of the intellect among words,” highlighting how poetic meaning arises from semantic interplay and connotation.

Detailed Definition
Logopoeia, a term coined by Ezra Pound, refers to “the dance of the intellect among words”—poetry that delights in linguistic complexity, allusion, and conceptual interplay rather than pure imagery or melody; characteristic of metaphysical and modernist verse, it demands active reader engagement to unpack layered meanings, making the poem a site of intellectual discovery and verbal architecture.
Example
Example in poetry:
Logopoeia: Ezra Pound’s term for “dance of the intellect among words”; example: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; / Petals on a wet, black bough.” (Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro”)
Additional Notes
Poetry emphasizing intellectual/verbal complexity (Pound's term). Contrasts with melopoeia (musical) and phanopoeia (visual). Related to wit and intellectual verse. Study tip: Focus on ideas, argument, wordplay versus sound/image.
Also Known As
Intellectual poetry Thought-image verse Cerebral poetry Mental dance
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