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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 brief, emotive poem expressing personal feelings or reflections, often musical in rhythm and intimate in tone.
Explore this topic in depth (5)
Carpe Diem: Poetry and the Urgency of the Present
— Carpe diem poetry asks what we should do with a life that will not last forever. Explore its classical origins, its images of fleeting beauty, and the ways poets make urgency both appealing and open to question.
Lyric Poetry
— Lyric poetry is a broad poetic mode, not a fixed form or simply another name for song lyrics. Discover how lyrics shape experience through voice, sound, address and movement—and how reading and listening can reveal their workings.
Harlem Renaissance Poetry
— Harlem Renaissance poetry brought new visibility to Black voices without settling on a single style or message. Explore its historical roots, varied forms and musical connections, with practical ways to read and listen closely.
Poetic Voice and the Speaker
— A poem’s “I” is not automatically its author, and a poem can speak in more than one voice. This guide offers practical ways to identify the speaker, hear changes in tone and perspective, and base interpretations on the poem’s language and form.
Victorian Poetry
— Victorian poetry developed during a period of rapid social, scientific and industrial change. It includes intimate lyrics, public arguments, narrative poems and unsettling dramatic speakers, rather than a single uniform style.
Detailed Definition
Lyric is a poetic mode expressing personal emotion, thought, or perception, often in a musical, first-person voice; originating in ancient Greek songs accompanied by lyre, it encompasses sonnets, odes, and free verse, prioritizing intensity of feeling over narrative, as in Sappho or Keats.
Example
Example in poetry:
Sappho’s Fragment 31 (“He seems to me equal to the gods…”) is foundational lyric; John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” uses lyric for emotional introspection; Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” exemplifies compressed lyric; Contemporary poet Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong” uses lyric for self-address; Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” employs lyric to explore identity; W.H. Auden’s “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” blends public and private lyric modes.
Additional Notes
Lyric: A short poem expressing personal emotion or thought, often song-like; contrasts with narrative or dramatic poetry; includes sonnets, odes, and elegies; root of much modern poetry.