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Lyric speaker

Concept
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

The voice or persona through which a lyric poem is expressed, often distinct from the poet

Detailed Definition
The lyric speaker is the constructed voice or persona through which a poem’s emotions and perceptions are conveyed, distinct from the historical author; this “I” creates a sense of immediacy and authenticity, serving as the focal consciousness within the poem’s imaginative world.
Example
Example in poetry:
The “I” in Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus”; the persona in Robert Browning’s dramatic monologues; the confessional voice in Anne Sexton’s poems; the constructed narrator in T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
Additional Notes
Lyric speaker: The persona or voice through which a lyric poem is expressed; not necessarily the poet, but a constructed “I” embodying emotional states.
Also Known As
Poetic voice Lyrical persona “I” of the poem Subjective narrator Lyric I Poetic persona
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