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lyric chant

Form
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 lyrical poem with a rhythmic, incantatory quality resembling a chant

Detailed Definition
A lyric chant is a poem that mimics the rhythmic, repetitive, and incantatory qualities of ritual or ceremonial speech, often using anaphora, refrain, and hypnotic meter; it prioritizes sonic texture and emotional resonance over narrative, evoking trance, prayer, or collective memory through its performative cadence.
Example
Example in poetry:
Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” uses lyric chant through repetitive, incantatory lines; Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” employs lyric chant with rhythmic, breath-driven repetition; Langston Hughes’s “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” uses chant-like cadence; Ntozake Shange’s “for colored girls...” blends lyric chant with performance poetry.
Additional Notes
Lyric chant uses rhythmic repetition, incantatory phrasing, and oral cadence to evoke song or ritual; common in Whitman, Ginsberg, and performance poetry; breath and line breaks are crucial to its musicality.
Also Known As
Incantatory lyric rhythmic chant oral lyric bardic recitation Lyric song songlike lyric
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