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lyrical recurrence

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 repetition of emotional or musical motifs across a poem to unify tone or theme

Detailed Definition
Lyrical recurrence is the poetic strategy of returning to a specific image, phrase, or emotional state at intervals throughout a poem, not as rigid refrain but as organic re-emergence that deepens resonance; unlike mechanical repetition, lyrical recurrence feels inevitable and evolving, as in the cyclical returns to “water” in Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” where each instance refracts new layers of meaning and mood.
Example
Example in poetry:
The repeated "O" in Keats’s odes creates lyrical recurrence; Dickinson’s dashes and slant rhymes recur to build emotional texture; Yeats’s refrain "Come away, O human child!" in "The Stolen Child" returns with variation; In Sappho’s fragments, the phrase "golden-throned" recurs as a lyrical motif; Frost’s "Stopping by Woods" uses recurring line endings to deepen contemplation.
Additional Notes
Lyrical recurrence describes the return of sound, image, or motif to create musicality and cohesion—broader than refrain, as it may be subtle or irregular. It deepens resonance without monotony. Students should map recurrences: are they exact or varied? How do they shape the poem’s emotional arc? Related to “echoing phrase” but more encompassing.
Also Known As
Refrain recurrence Lyrical echo Repetitive motif Cyclic phrase Song-like refrain
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